Micron Says Memory Shortage Will Persist Past 2026

• Micron warns DRAM and NAND supply will "persist through and beyond" 2026 as AI demand climbs. • CEO Sanjay Mehrotra says "supply will remain substantially short of the demand for the foreseeable future." • Micron reported record revenue ($13.64B) and plans a 20% shipment increase next year and new fabs in Idaho (2027) and New York (2030). • Consumers can expect tighter PC and DDR5 RAM supply and upward price pressure as Micron prioritizes HBM deals.

What Micron announced

Micron, one of the world’s three largest memory suppliers, told investors that tight market conditions across DRAM and NAND flash are likely to extend beyond 2026. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra delivered the warning in the company’s latest earnings call and report.

Key quotes from the earnings call

Mehrotra said the AI-driven build-outs by large cloud and AI customers have sharply lifted demand and that "supply will remain substantially short of the demand for the foreseeable future." He also described "tight industry conditions" that are expected to "persist through and beyond" 2026.

Why AI is amplifying the shortage

Data-center customers such as OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft, and Google are deploying high-bandwidth memory (HBM) at scale for AI accelerators. HBM uses more silicon area per unit of memory than standard DRAM, concentrating wafer demand toward premium memory types.

Consequences for other markets

Micron has begun shifting resources away from consumer-facing brands like Crucial to focus on higher-margin HBM contracts. That reallocation reduces available DRAM and NAND for PCs, smartphones, and other consumer devices, contributing to rising DDR5 prices and potential shipment delays.

Micron’s production response

To address the imbalance, Micron plans to increase DRAM and NAND shipments by roughly 20% next year. The company also expects to bring new fabs online: a facility in Idaho targeted for 2027 and another in New York planned for 2030.

Why ramping may not be enough

Even with the shipment increase and new manufacturing capacity, Micron cautions the added supply won’t immediately satisfy demand across all segments. Building and qualifying advanced memory fabs takes years, and the near-term supply/demand gap is being widened by rapid AI adoption.

What consumers should expect

Short-term effects are likely to include higher prices and constrained availability for PC RAM and SSDs. For enterprises and cloud providers, the squeeze means continued premium pricing for HBM-equipped systems supporting AI workloads.

Micron’s strong revenue performance—$13.64 billion in the most recent quarter, up from $8.71 billion a year earlier—illustrates how lucrative the AI-driven memory market has become even as supply remains tight.