By Nate Wolf

Japanese memory supplier Kioxia is coming to the U.S. market as interest in the sector surges.

On Friday, the company said in a notice to investors that it plans to list American depositary shares on a U.S. stock exchange. Kioxia said the move would "grow its investor base and increase its corporate value."

It hasn't yet decided when it will list shares and on which exchange, and pricing information wasn't immediately available.

Depositary shares give investors exposure to a common stock, typically from a foreign issuer, without the need for foreign-exchange trading. A third-party custodian holds the underlying common stock.

Kioxia's listing comes as memory stocks are booming amid tight supply and explosive demand from artificial-intelligence hyperscalers. Shares of the two primary U.S. suppliers, Micron Technology and Sandisk, have soared 692% and 3,319%, respectively, over the last 12 months.

Kioxia itself has jumped 1,901% in the past year in Japanese trading. The company on Friday reported 37% year-over-year growth in revenue and a 93% surge in operating profit in fiscal 2026, which ended March 31. In the fiscal fourth quarter, its operating profit more than quadrupled from a year ago.

The stock sank 8.3% in Tokyo on Friday. Micron and Sandisk were down 4.2% and 2%, respectively, in U.S. premarket trading.

The Japanese company isn't the first foreign memory supplier to pursue a U.S. offering. Korean competitor SK Hynix said in March that it had filed an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission to list American depositary receipts -- a close cousin of depositary shares.

Write to Nate Wolf at nate.wolf@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 15, 2026 10:04 ET (14:04 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.