Kioxia briefly overtakes Toyota, rises to No. 2 in Japan by market cap

Move underscores a shift in country's industrial leadership following SoftBank's rise to No. 1

Kioxia shares have risen from 169th to second in Japan by market capitalization within a year. (Source photos by Shintaro Ino and Kazuhiro Noguchi)

TOKYO -- Japanese flash memory maker Kioxia briefly overtook Toyota Motor by market capitalization on Wednesday, rising to second place among listed companies, underscoring a shift in Japan's industrial leadership as artificial intelligence drives a broad technological transformation.