Micron CEO: Customers driving hard bargain on price contributed to memory shortage - CNBC

Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra told CNBC that the current imbalance in the memory chip market is not solely due to semiconductor manufacturers, but also attributed to customers' aggressive pricing pressur... Read original →

Micron’s pricing narrative exposes a structural mismatch: aggressive customer cost pressure during the downturn starved memory makers of capex just as AI demand exploded. Technologically, the shift to EUV-based DRAM and 3D-stacked HBM has lengthened ramp cycles and inflated fab costs, delaying supply response to NVIDIA’s surging orders. Under U.S. CHIPS Act constraints, even $200B in planned investments can’t fully offset geopolitical friction inflating supply chain redundancy. Samsung will likely accelerate HBM4 development, while SK Hynix may deepen ties with Taiwan, China foundries to hedge risk. Over the next 12–24 months, Apple’s price hikes signal broader consumer electronics inflation, forcing OEMs to rethink BOM strategies—possibly even adopting 'memory-as-a-service' models. The shortage won’t ease before 2027; it’s becoming a permanent inflation vector for AI hardware.