Micron Warns Memory Shortages Could Persist for Years as AI Demand Surges

Micron and Samsung executives said this week that memory shortages could persist for at least the next few years as demand from artificial intelligence and data centers continues to grow.

Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra told investors that the company expects demand for its memory products to outstrip available supply over the coming years.

AI and server demand is limiting consumer memory supply

Micron no longer sells consumer RAM. Mehrotra’s comments refer to the company’s business-to-business sales of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for AI systems and DRAM for servers. However, the supply constraints also have implications for consumer devices.

Manufacturing capacity is increasingly being prioritized for AI infrastructure and servers, limiting the supply of memory produced for consumer electronics.

“Overall, the supply and demand environment is only going to get tougher,” Mehrotra said on the company’s earnings call. Read the transcript at Seeking Alpha.

Micron’s new clean room will not immediately ease shortages

Micron plans to open a new clean room for memory manufacturing in 2028, but Mehrotra expects supply to remain limited even after the facility begins production.

“Even after fabrication, even after the first wafer production, production only ramps up gradually in the clean room,” he said. “This is a necessary property to drive up production, and with HBM moving from 3E to a larger mix of 4E and 4E, current trade ratios are creating headwinds in terms of supply increases. Future node migrations will also see less productivity gains per wafer.”

Most of Micron’s 2027 memory production is already allocated

Mehrotra said 75% of Micron’s 2027 memory production has already been accounted for, while most of the company’s current memory sales negotiations are for 2028.

Demand for high-bandwidth memory also exceeds demand for Micron’s conventional DRAM, underscoring how strongly AI-related workloads are shaping the memory market.