Overview
- Micron told investors it expects demand to exceed supply in calendar 2027 and 2028 and has already sold most of the memory it expects to produce next year, warning customers will pay much higher prices.
- The shortage is driven by booming AI and data‑centre demand that is pushing manufacturers to convert wafer capacity into high‑bandwidth memory (HBM), which uses the same silicon as ordinary DRAM.
- Micron plans heavy capital spending and new fabs with roughly $25 billion of investment and factories targeted to come online in 2028, but the company says new capacity will not bring immediate relief.
- The tight market is already affecting buyers: device makers have raised prices and researchers report average smartphone selling prices rose sharply in India while shipments of low‑cost phones fell steeply.
- Memory suppliers are benefiting financially as HBM and datacentre products deliver much higher gross margins, and investors and buyers should watch wafer‑allocation choices and price pass‑through by device makers.