Micron (MU) will report its second quarter earnings after the closing bell on Wednesday, as the AI market continues to drive massive demand for memory chips around the world.
Memory, or RAM, is an integral component of data center servers for both GPU-based systems by Nvidia (NVDA) and CPU-based systems by the likes of Intel (INTC) and AMD (AMD).
The explosion in AI training and inferencing and the broader push into agentic AI is driving a dearth of available memory supplies, raising prices and impacting the cost of consumer and enterprise electronics.
In February, market research firm Gartner said the memory shortage will cause PC shipments to drop 10.4% in 2026 and smartphone shipments to decline 8.4%.
Prices on those products will also increase 17% and 13%, versus 2025 levels.
For the quarter, Micron is expected to post earnings per share (EPS) of $9.00 on revenue of $19.7 billion, that’s a year-over-year EPS increase of 476% and revenue increase of 145%.
According to Bloomberg analyst consensus estimates, DRAM will bring in $15.7 billion, while storage will bring in roughly $4 billion in sales.
Micron is one of a small number of global memory chip suppliers, alongside SK Hynix and Samsung. Those companies produce something called DRAM, which is used as part of the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) necessary for AI data centers, as well as in double data rate (DDR) memory, which is used in different permutations in smartphones, laptops, and most other computers.
Because HBM offers higher margins, memory makers are building more chips for data centers than other electronics, increasing prices on consumer and enterprise devices.
Micron, in particular, made a strategic move to kill its Crucial line of consumer memory products in favor of focusing on HBM chips.
On Monday, Micron announced it plans to build a second plant at a site it acquired in Taiwan in January.
And in January, the company broke ground on a new $100 billion mega fabrication facility to produce memory chips in New York State to increase memory supply.
Micron stock has benefited handsomely from the AI boost, climbing 357% over the last 12 months and 63% since the start of 2026.
Sandisk (SNDK), which focuses on storage chips, meanwhile has seen its stock rocket 1,239% over the last year thanks to high demand from data center builders.
Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.
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