This article first appeared on GuruFocus .
Kioxia Holdings ( KXIAY ) could be attracting fresh investor attention as executive pay at the Japanese flash memory maker surged alongside rising global demand for AI-related chips. Chairman Stacy Smith's compensation rose nearly 15-fold to 4.4 billion, or $27 million, in the fiscal year ended March, according to the company's annual securities report. Former president Nobuo Hayasaka, who stepped down in April as Hiroo Ota took over, saw his pay increase more than six-fold to 794 million. The number of Kioxia executives earning 100 million or more stayed unchanged at two.
The pay jump reflects how AI-related hardware demand is possibly reshaping compensation even in Japan, where executive pay has typically lagged global peers. Tokyo Electron ( TOELF ) CEO Toshiki Kawai received 2.05 billion last fiscal year, up 30%, while Samsung Electronics' ( SSNLF ) chip business head earned 5.6 billion won, or $3.6 million, last year. SK Hynix's chief executive earned around 4.2 billion won, according to Chosun Biz. The broader AI boom is also fueling debate over how the gains should be shared among executives, workers, investors, and other stakeholders, especially after some Samsung and SK Hynix chip workers won a $42 billion bonanza this year.
For investors, Kioxia's profit outlook could be the bigger signal. The company expects operating profit in the June quarter to be nearly 30 times the level recorded in the same period a year ago. Kioxia has not yet released an annual outlook, but analysts on average expect profit to rise roughly eight-fold to 7.3 trillion. A chronic memory-chip shortage has become one of the main bottlenecks for AI, while the rise of AI agents has pushed prices of Kioxia's premium chips higher. Kioxia's stock is up more than 700% this year, making it Japan's most valuable company and one of the best performers on the MSCI World Index.
