Micron CEO Says Memory Supply Will Be Much Tighter in 2027 and 2028 Than in 2026

Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra says memory and storage supply will likely be much tighter in 2027 and 2028 than it was in 2026. He made the remarks during Micron's fiscal Q4 2026 earnings call on September 30, where the company reported record quarterly revenue of $54.2 billion. Here's what he said:

Industry demand has strengthened since our last earnings call, and we expect memory and storage supply-demand conditions to be much tighter in fiscal 2027 and 2028 than they were in 2026. AI is becoming super intelligent, and memory enhances this intelligence and the competitiveness of our customers' platforms. Even with additional industry DRAM clean room space plans with robust demand trends, including new upside requests from customers, we do not have line of sight to when supply and demand will return to balance.

In June, Micron CEO said they expected industry supply to improve gradually in 2028, but couldn't predict when supply would catch up with demand. The company now says it still has no line of sight to a balance, even with additional industry cleanroom space planned. New capacity takes time as well, since Micron's Idaho ID2 fab is only expected to start wafer output in late 2028. Mehrotra also said more than 75% of Micron's 2027 output is already committed to customers. On the consumer side, Micron said DRAM prices rose in the high-teens percent range last quarter, with NAND up about 30%. It looks like relief isn't close, although these are company projections and could change.