Kioxia

Kioxia Holdings Corporation (/kiˈoʊksiə/),[1] simply known as Kioxia and stylized as KIOXIA, is a Japanese multinational computer memory manufacturer headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The company was spun off from the Toshiba conglomerate as Toshiba Memory Corporation (東芝メモリ株式会社, Tōshiba Memori Kabushiki-gaisha) in June 2018.[2] It became a wholly owned subsidiary company of Toshiba Memory Holdings Corporation on March 1, 2019 and was renamed to Kioxia in October 2019.[3][4] In the early 1980s, while still part of Toshiba, the company was credited with inventing flash memory.[5] In the third quarter of 2018, the company was estimated to have 19% of the global revenue share for NAND flash solid-state drives.[6] The company is the parent company of Kioxia Corporation.

Kioxia Holdings Corporation
Formerly
  • Toshiba Memory Corporation (2018–2019)
  • Toshiba Memory Holding Corporation (March 2019–October 2019)
TypePrivate
IndustryElectronics
FoundedJune 1, 2018 (2018-06-01)
Headquarters
Minato, Tokyo, Japan
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
ProductsComputer memory
Number of employees
  • 80 (KHC only)
  • 12,000 (total)
Website

Name

Kioxia is a combination of the Japanese word kioku meaning memory and the Greek word axia meaning value.[3]

History
See also: Toshiba § History

In 1980, Fujio Masuoka, an engineer at Kioxia predecessor Toshiba, invented flash memory,[7][8] and in 1984, Masuoka and his colleagues presented their invention of NOR flash.[9]

In January 2014, the Toshiba Corporation completed its acquisition of OCZ Storage Solutions renaming it to OCZ and making it a brand of Toshiba.[10]

On June 1, 2018, due to heavy losses experienced by the bankruptcy of the Westinghouse subsidiary of former parent company Toshiba over nuclear power plant construction at Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in 2016, Toshiba Memory Corporation was spun off from the Toshiba Corporation. Toshiba maintained a 40.2% equity in the new company.[2][11] The new company consisted of all of Toshiba memory businesses. Toshiba Memory Corporation became a subsidiary of the newly formed Toshiba Memory Holdings Corporation on 1 March 2019.

In June 2019, Kioxia experienced a power cut at one of its factories in Yokkaichi, Japan, resulting in the loss of at least 6 exabytes of flash memory, with some sources estimating the loss as high as 15 exabytes. Western Digital used (and still uses) Kioxia's facilities for making its own flash memory chips.[12][13]

On July 18, 2019, Toshiba Memory Holdings Corporation announced it would change its name to Kioxia on October 1, 2019, including all Toshiba memory companies. On October 1, 2019, Toshiba Memory Holdings Corporation was renamed to Kioxia Holdings Corporation and Toshiba Memory Corporation was renamed to Kioxia Corporation.[2] This renaming also included companies associated with Toshiba's solid-state drive brand OCZ.[14]

On August 30, 2019, Toshiba Memory Holdings Corporation, not yet renamed to Kioxia, announced that it signed a definitive agreement to acquire Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Lite-On's SSD business for US$165 million . The transaction is expected to close by the first half of 2020.[15][16]

Corporate governance

As of April 30, 2020, Kioxia ownership is as follows:[17]

Subsidiaries

Kioxia Holdings Corporation is the holding company of Kioxia Corporation. Kioxia Corporation is the parent company of several companies including Kioxia Systems Company, Kioxia Advanced Package Corporation, Kioxia America, and Kioxia Europe.[11]

References
  1. "How to say KIOXIA". Kioxia. October 4, 2019. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  2. "Toshiba Memory to Buy Out Shares From Apple, Dell". Wal Street Journal. 2019-05-20. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  3. "Former Toshiba memory business to rebrand as Kioxia". ZDNet. 2019-07-19. Retrieved 2020-03-09.
  4. "Establishment of Toshiba Memory Holdings Corporation". March 1, 2019. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  5. "Unloved Toshiba Stock Is About to Reward Suitors Again". The Wall Street Journal. 2018-08-13. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  6. Mellor, Chris (23 November 2018). "Grandmaster flash Samsung dominated SSD market in 3Q2018". www.theregister.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-05-17.
  7. US 4531203 Fujio Masuoka
  8. Semiconductor memory device and method for manufacturing the same
  9. Masuoka, F.; Asano, M.; Iwahashi, H.; Komuro, T.; Tanaka, S. (December 1984). "A new flash E2PROM cell using triple polysilicon technology". 1984 International Electron Devices Meeting: 464–467. doi:10.1109/IEDM.1984.190752.
  10. Martyn Williams. "It's official: Toshiba owns OCZ's SSD business". PCWorld. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
  11. "Company information | KIOXIA". www.kioxia-holdings.com.
  12. "Power outage causes Toshiba and Western Digital to lose 6 exabytes of NAND". TechSpot.
  13. "Power outage may have ruined 15 exabytes of WD and Toshiba flash storage". AppleInsider.
  14. "Toshiba Memory will rebrand itself as Kioxia by October this year (Updated)". www.hardwarezone.com.sg. Retrieved 2020-03-18.
  15. Duckett, Chris (2 September 2019). "Toshiba Memory picks up Lite-On SSD business in $165 million deal". ZDNet. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  16. "Toshiba Memory to Acquire the SSD Business of Taiwan's LITE-ON Technology" (PDF). August 30, 2019. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  17. "Toshiba Memory to Buy Out Shares From Apple, Dell". Wal Street Journal. 2019-05-20. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
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