Micron says the memory shortage will continue after 2026

Micron, one of the world’s top three memory suppliers, expects tough months ahead for the global supply of RAM. like Part of its earnings report Released on Wednesday, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said that “challenging industry conditions” across DRAM and NAND flash memory are expected to “continue through 2026 and beyond as artificial intelligence drives demand.”

With the AI ​​boom in full swing, Micron is making more money than ever as companies like OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft, and Google fill their data centers with powerful chips that come equipped with high-bandwidth memory (HBM). It once again reported record revenue of $13.64 billion last quarter, a big jump from the $8.71 billion it generated at the same time last year.

“Over the past few months, our customers’ AI data center construction plans have led to a sharp increase in demand forecasts for memory and storage,” Mehrotra said during the earnings call, adding that “supply will remain well below demand for the foreseeable future.” Micron said in its earnings report that these “memory supply constraints” could impact PC shipments next year.

Micron is aiming to ramp up production and expects to increase its shipments of DRAM and NAND flash memory by 20 percent next year, but that’s still not enough to keep up. “Despite great efforts, we are disappointed that we are unable to meet the demand from other customers across all market segments,” Mehrotra said. Micron also expects to begin production at a new manufacturing facility in Idaho in 2027, followed by a new factory in New York in 2030.