The company says it expects industry NAND bit shipments to grow in the mid-20% range, and DRAM bit shipments to grow in the low-20% range. The industry broadly will produce more memory over the next two years, says Micron, but that still won't keep pace with demand.
Worrying still is this line in Micron's earnings slides: "we do not have line of sight to when supply and demand will return to balance." However, the company says it plans to increase its capital expenditure (capex) in fiscal 2027 compared to its prior estimates.
A "majority" of that increase is set aside for construction of additional clean room space, which Micron has set for 2028 through the end of the decade. Hopefully, that additional clean room space coming online will ease supply constraints, but we're still a long way from that point.
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Jake Roach Social Links Navigation Senior Analyst, CPUs Jake Roach is the Senior CPU Analyst at Tom’s Hardware, writing reviews, news, and features about the latest consumer and workstation processors.
Jame5 I believe the only sane response to this in light of Micron's insistence that this will happen forever so that they keep earning these high margins is…. <expletive deleted> off. Reply
TechieTwo Vote with your wallet. That's the only thing unscrupulous companies understand IME. Reply
bigdragon 88% profit margin should be setting off alarm bells at every level of government — from consumer protection to those who manage our infrastructure and manufacturing capabilities. Things are clearly not working correctly unless you're one of the few elites at the top. I'm not surprised that 2027 is predicted to be worse than 2026. I think we'll hear the same predictions about 2028 too. The memory industry needs a serious intervention! I'm not sure who has the will to do something about it though. Reply
Dntknwitall I find it a bit odd that there is a shortage and yet they keep making record profits off the consumer market! This is just blatantly throwing it in the faces of law makers that do not plan on doing anything cause everyone has a price nowadays. Price fixing, na, who cares we will take bribes until it comes out it 5 years. This is the most ridiculous open price fixing in history and nobody seems to want to do anything cause they have put AI at such importance at a federal level that nobody wants to touch it. These companies have become untouchable for the foreseeable future or until the AI bubble pops. Reply
thestryker At this point I'm just waiting to see what happens when additional capacity comes online. This would be when we see how artifical the price hikes are. Reply
derekullo TechieTwo said: Vote with your wallet. That's the only thing unscrupulous companies understand IME. Taken another way … https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/MU/. Your wallet would be doing quite well. Reply
simba7 Hey Micron, eff all the way off a cliff. Thanks for giving your consumer business customers the finger while deep throating AI. I hope you crash and burn. Reply
justrudi thestryker said: At this point I'm just waiting to see what happens when additional capacity comes online. This would be when we see how artifical the price hikes are. That is why it is still does not come online, an even rumored that current capacity was decreased to maintain the demand. Even though I clearly understand the consequences, but I do wish YMTC's capacities expanding, as well as other memory manufacturers popping up. Only with an actual competition or government involvement the change is possible. And now is a golden moment that may excuse massive investments into new memory companies, with expectations of similar margins. As long as there will be someone who is in conflict with the big 3 and have enough capital to start the challenge like china did. Reply
Key considerations
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/dram/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/dram/micron-now-has-an-88-percent-margin-on-consumer-memory-price-hikes-drive-revenue-client-business-is-microns-only-unit-that-shipped-less-memory-this-quarter#main
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