Kioxia anticipates demand for NAND storage will grow by roughly 20% each year as AI data center operators keep scaling up.

The Tokyo-based memory maker is confident that the market will sustain that rapid clip of expansion and is making investment decisions on a monthly basis to ensure its new plant is up to the task of filling the demand, Executive Vice President Tomoharu Watanabe said. Kioxia¡¯s specialty is in NAND flash memory, which is used everywhere from smartphones and laptops to the fast-access sections of data center operations.

"Demand is strong, especially from hyperscalers who need chips for generative AI purposes,¡± Watanabe said on Tuesday. "We¡¯re also hearing from customers who need to replace data center servers they installed five to six years ago, as well as some saying they can¡¯t get enough hard drives.¡±