Micron CEO sees memory chip shortage lasting beyond 2026 - Crypto Briefing

Micron Technology CEO Sanjay Mehrotra stated during the company's fiscal Q1 2026 earnings call that tight supply-demand dynamics for both DRAM and NAND flash memory will persist well into and beyond 2... Read original →

Micron’s warning of a memory shortage extending beyond 2026 exposes a structural mismatch between AI-driven demand and constrained manufacturing capacity. Technically, HBM DRAM and 3D NAND are now bottlenecks for AI accelerators, but EUV scarcity and advanced packaging limits stretch lead times beyond 18 months—forcing NVIDIA to redesign architectures for lower bandwidth dependency. Geopolitical friction, especially U.S. export controls and Taiwan Strait volatility, compels customers into costly dual-sourcing strategies, inflating inventory and qualification overhead. Samsung is racing to scale HBM3E to capture NVIDIA sockets, while SK Hynix leverages its CoWoS integration edge; Chinese players expand legacy DRAM but can’t fill the high-end void. Over the next 12–24 months, this shortage will accelerate CXL adoption, spur cloud giants toward in-house memory-centric SoCs, and cement regionalized, resilience-first supply chains.