What Is Kioxia? And Should You Bother? Not Really. Part 1: why NAND is so hard (and not attractive)

Memory and NAND challenges in part1. Part 2 will cover financials (there's a bad surprise) and valuations.

Conclusions 

Tier-2 commodity Memory is a lousy business, which requires high Capex and R&D, generates very low Free Cash Flows. DRAM is more sustainable than NAND as peak margins are higher. 

Kioxia only makes NAND, has a high market share (16%) but is a Tier-2 supplier, with a roadmap lagging SK Hynix by ~2 years, and a high exposure to Consumer.

The Memory cycle has recovered, we are probably close to peak earnings. That’s why stocks have been declining (Micron, Hynix). Part 2 will cover financials (there's a bad surprise) and valuations.