Kioxia Holdings Corp — We met with the CFO

During the Japan Big Tech tour, we met with Kioxia's CFO Yoshihiko Kawamura and Executive Officer Toshiaki Fujikawa. Their key messages: (1) NAND demand for AI data centres remains very strong, and the expansion of AI usage from learning to inference is accelerating demand for storage, particularly enterprise SSDs; (2) Kioxia is deliberately targeting LTA coverage of around 50%, lower than competitors, and a shorter duration of three years, to take advantage of price upside and the flexibility to respond to technological change; (3) there is limited scope to alter the current five-year capex plan;