![[Stocks to Watch] Kioxia Holdings and others remained at their daily trading limit highs into the afternoon session; buy orders may carry over to next week.](https://www.mogazmasr.com/uploads/2026/07/31/kioxia-stock-f9ca4010_800w.webp)
Kioxia Holdings Corp. shares have slumped 65% from their June peak, wiping out roughly $245 billion in market value and forcing investors to rethink how far the stock can run after one of Japan’s fastest rallies of the year. The shares, which once briefly made Kioxia Japan’s most valuable company, are now falling on speculation that management may have to move faster on returns to shareholders.
The decline matters now because Kioxia reports fiscal first-quarter results on Friday, giving investors their next chance to hear whether dividends stay the only clear policy signal or whether buybacks move closer to a formal plan. The stock had surged more than 500% in 2025, then hit an all-time high of ¥112,700 on June 22, when its market value briefly overtook Toyota Motor; that backdrop is why the current selloff is landing so hard.
Kioxia listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in December 2024, then rode a wave of demand tied to data centers racing to secure NAND flash memory for AI infrastructure. Profits rose sharply in 2026 as tight memory supply lifted results, and the company’s gains fed a market narrative that the memory cycle had turned decisively in its favor. Now that narrative has weakened as the broader AI trade unwinds and Kioxia stock has followed South Korean peers SK Hynix and Samsung lower.
There is also a policy wrinkle. Kioxia said in May that dividends remain its priority, but at its June investor day it left room for flexible share buybacks depending on circumstances. A company spokesperson said the company continues to weigh buybacks but has not made a concrete decision yet. That leaves investors with a simple but unresolved question: whether the lower share price is enough to make buybacks easier to justify, or whether the company will keep treating them as only a possibility.
Ikuo Mitsui said a buyback could send a signal that management views the stock as oversold, and that is the message many investors are now listening for. Rising competition from Chinese NAND manufacturers has also added pressure on Kioxia’s pricing power, making the coming results more than a routine update. If Friday brings no shift on capital returns, the market will likely read that as a decision to protect the dividend path first and leave buybacks on the table a little longer.
