Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra says that RAM shortages will persist into 2028 and perhaps beyond, and customers will pay “much higher prices” than they did in 2026
Posts huge leaps in revenue, profit, and margin, with more to come — Memory-maker Micron has warned that RAM shortages …
Context & Ripple Effects
Micron entered 2026 with memory producers adding capacity cautiously despite shortage forecasts, reflecting concern about repeating past downcycles. By February, Micron said it could meet only about 50% to 66% of demand for some key customers as AI demand lifted memory needs.
The company’s March revenue and capex outlook showed that tighter supply was already translating into higher sales and investment. Its forecast that shortages extend into 2028 turns a near-term pricing spike into a longer planning problem for memory buyers.
First-order effects
- Micron’s customers face materially higher RAM procurement costs through the shortage period, while constrained supply supports the company’s elevated revenue, profit, and margin profile.
- Customers for which Micron had previously been unable to meet full demand must manage allocation risk alongside higher prices.
Second-order effects
- PC and phone makers identified in earlier shortage forecasts must decide whether to absorb higher memory costs, raise device prices, or alter configurations as RAM becomes a more consequential part of their bill of materials.
- Memory producers’ cautious capacity additions gain a stronger commercial rationale: limited new supply preserves pricing even as buyers seek additional volume.
Third-order effects
- If AI-led memory demand and restrained expansion persist together, RAM pricing becomes less governed by short device cycles and more by the semiconductor industry’s capacity-lag dynamic.
- The episode points to memory becoming an infrastructure constraint that can spill over from AI buyers into consumer-device supply and pricing.
The trend: AI-driven memory demand is extending the memory supercycle, while producers’ cautious capacity spending keeps supply response slower than buyers’ needs.