(Sept 24): Japanese memory chip maker Kioxia Holdings Corp has shelved its plan to debut its shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in October, Reuters said.

Kioxia, which is backed by shareholders including Bain Capital, Toshiba Corp and Hoya Corp, was preparing for an initial public offering in a bid to remain competitive. The IPO, which Bloomberg reported could raise about US$500 million (RM2.07 billion), was widely expected to be Japan’s biggest this year.

A representative of Kioxia could not immediately be reached for comment.

In the four years since scrapping an October 2020 IPO, the Tokyo-based company’s fallen technologically behind Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc, making it even more vulnerable in the next downturn. Kioxia had been seeking an IPO to raise money to ramp up and to capitalise on a rally in chip prices.

Kioxia has also been juggling on-again-off-again merger talks with Western Digital Corp.

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