On January 22, domestic media citing international sources reported that Kioxia Memory Division Executive Director Shunsuke Nakato revealed in a recent interview a stunning industry update: Kioxia’s 2026 NAND Flash production capacity has already been fully locked in by customers—effectively sold out in advance—with the tight supply situation expected to persist through 2027, leaving little room for near‑term relief.
Nakato stated that the current technology landscape is clear: the trend that “tech giants cannot survive without investing in AI” will continue at least through next year. This has driven explosive growth in demand for memory products, including NAND Flash, creating simultaneous conditions of supply shortage and rising prices—the core reason behind Kioxia’s capacity being fully booked ahead of time.
Notably, even with extreme market tightness, Kioxia adheres to a “gentlemen’s agreement” with its customers, avoiding short‑term profit‑driven approaches such as “first‑come‑first‑served” or “highest‑bidder‑wins.” Nakato emphasized that the company will continue to set annual contracts with long‑term partners and allocate capacity strictly according to those agreements to ensure partnership stability.
However, he also made clear that contract price increases are inevitable amid shifting global industry conditions and rising raw‑material and production costs, with certain deals likely to see price hikes of up to 30%. Kioxia’s Yokkaichi production base in Japan—a leading global NAND manufacturing hub—combined with output from its Kitakami Fab 2 (K2), is still insufficient to meet market demand.
ICgoodFind : Kioxia’s sold‑out 2026 capacity reflects surging industry demand and confirms an upward price trajectory, which will further tighten the global memory supply chain.
