TOKYO, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Bain Capital-backed Kioxia

plans to file a registration statement as soon as Friday which

will allow the Japanese chipmaker to sound out investors for an

initial public offering in December, two people familiar with

the matter said.

Bain scrapped plans for an IPO in October after investors

pushed the U.S. buyout firm to almost halve the 1.5 trillion yen

($9.79 billion) valuation it was seeking, Reuters reported.

Kioxia would be the first company to use new rules that

allow firms to test investor appetite before seeking listing

approval from the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the people said,

declining to be identified as the information is not public.

The chipmaker expects to receive approval from the bourse in

late November, the people said, with the indicative price for

the shares disclosed at that time.

The schedule for the IPO is left flexible in the filings

under the new rules.

Kioxia said it was planning for an IPO at the appropriate

time but that it could not comment further at this time. Bain

declined to comment.

While the Japanese stock market has been volatile in recent

months, investors globally are reassessing the outlook for

chip-sector firms as the U.S. transitions to a new government

under Donald Trump, whose policies shook up global trade in his

first term.

Kioxia, formerly Toshiba Memory, has been hammered by a

downturn in the market for memory chips with the industry

debating the durability of a recent recovery in prices.

A Bain-led consortium acquired Kioxia from scandal-hit

Toshiba six years ago for 2 trillion yen.

The chipmaker is readying capacity expansion on the back of

the boom in chips for artificial intelligence applications.

($1 = 153.2200 yen)