Micron's CEO Says Even His Own Customers Couldn't See This Coming. Now He's Spending $200 Billion - 24/7 Wall St.

Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra admitted during an interview with Jim Cramer on June 30, 2026, that even his own customers couldn't predict the explosive demand for AI memory. This revelation underscores M... Read original →

Micron’s contrarian 2023 bet on AI memory has triggered a tech-stack cascade: HBM4 and HBM4E are now forcing TSMC to expand CoWoS capacity and accelerating EUV adoption in DRAM at the 3nm node—raising yield barriers and supply-chain entry costs across the AI chip ecosystem. Compliance-wise, its $200B U.S.-centric capex aligns with CHIPS Act incentives but sacrifices agility in East Asia’s mature manufacturing cluster, especially under tightening U.S.-China tech controls. While SK Hynix and Samsung rush HBM4 ramp, Micron’s early customer lock-ins (e.g., NVIDIA) offer temporary moats—but a premature HBM5 standard could erase that lead. Over the next 18 months, AI server memory demand will grow >30% YoY, yet weak consumer DRAM recovery may depress overall fab utilization, pushing the sector into structural bifurcation: HBM scarcity vs. commodity oversupply.