Micron's Strong Forecast Driven by AI-Fueled Demand for High-Bandwidth Memory Chips

Micron Gives Strong Forecast, Lifted by AI Computing Demand

Micron Technology Inc., the largest US maker of computer memory chips, gave an upbeat forecast for the current quarter, helped by demand for artificial intelligence equipment. Fiscal fourth-quarter revenue will be roughly $10.7 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. That was well ahead of the $9.89 billion average analyst estimate, sending the shares up in late trading. Micron is seeing increasing demand for components like its high-bandwidth memory, which are used in machines that develop and run AI tools. The company expects continued growth from that market as such software becomes more complex, requiring bigger amounts of memory. The company is also starting to recover from narrower profit margins in the previous quarter. (Source: Bloomberg)

Micron forecasts quarterly revenue above estimates on AI-driven memory chip demand

June 25 (Reuters) - Micron Technology (MU.O), opens new tab forecast fourth-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, betting on robust demand for its memory chips used for artificial intelligence hardware in data centers. Shares of the memory chipmaker rose 6.7% in extended trading. Micron is positioned as a key player in the AI memory market. Its high-bandwidth memory chips are used in some of the most advanced artificial intelligence systems, including data centers. Many cloud companies, such as Google, have reaffirmed their investments this year to expand AI infrastructure, underscoring strong demand for AI-related products. Micron said it expects revenue of $10.7 billion, plus or minus $300 million, in the fourth quarter, compared with analysts' average estimate of $9.88 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Suggested Topics:Business

This chip stock that's been hotter than Nvidia is set to report earnings. Here's what analysts expect

Micron Technology is scheduled to post its fiscal third-quarter earnings Wednesday after the bell, and some analysts are taking a rather optimistic view. The semiconductor manufacturing company is expected to earn $1.60 per share on $8.872 billion in revenue, according to analysts surveyed by LSEG. That would mark a more than 158% gain in earnings per share compared to the prior-year period. The revenue estimate points to a more than 30% jump year over year. The U.S.-based company's latest results come as shares have soared more than 35% in the past month and more than 50% in 2025 -- meaningfully outpacing Nvidia's gains over both periods. Analysts are betting those gains will continue. Most analysts are also bullish on the stock, with 34 of 41 rating the stock a buy or strong buy, LSEG data shows. MU NVDA 1M mountain MU vs. NVDA, 1-month Analysts pointed to Micron's strong performance in the high bandwidth memory (HBM) market, where the company has been able to capitalize on rising artificial intelligence demand. They expect HBM growth to continue. Here's what analysts had to say about Micron heading into its quarterly results. Wedbush Securities: Outperform rating and $150 price target The firm's target calls for more than 17% upside from Tuesday's close. "In the current quarter, MU guided for better shipments, albeit with pricing and margins expected to dip given 1) ASP expectations and 2) a shift in mix towards more consumer oriented parts (with retail/channel demand having driven the better bit expectations). However, the shifting dynamics in CQ2, in our view, suggests that mix and ASPs likely trended better than MU's FQ3 guidance had anticipated (both in DRAM and NAND). As such, we are lifting our Q2 modeled expectations towards the high end of MU's guided range. ... Moreover, we view growing HBM requirements as not just positive for MU's numbers, but also ultimately positive for industry dynamics as capex and clean room space are reallocated to support HBM growth, limiting the likelihood of oversupply of standard NAND/DRAM and also increasing the probability production of more standard parts trails demand creating a more positive pricing/margin cycle vs. what is embedded in our expectations." Stifel: Buy rating and $130 price target The firm's target signals 2% upside. "We expect upside to ours/cons. F3Q estimates, with bit shipments for the May-ending quarter likely helped by some pull-forward of PC/phone production (and memory chips) while these devices remain exempt from higher reciprocal tariffs. Although the market has concerns about what's been pulled forward, recent checks suggest OEM inventory remains reasonable, broader DRAM demand (incl. high-capacity DRAM and LPDDR5X) is strong, and that pricing is expected to increase into the September month. ... We continue to view MU as a share-gainer in HBM, and expect 12-Hi HBM3E to be a more significant driver over the ensuing quarters enroute to the company meeting/exceeding its targeted 20%+ share exiting the CY." Wolfe Research: Outperform rating and $150 price target "We update our industry estimates to reflect improved pricing dynamics in Q2 for both DRAM and NAND. We do however think some of the Q2 improvement has been driven by demand pulled forward from 2H, as customers attempted to buy ahead of possible price increases (similar to last yr), and tariffs (with the most concerns from the PC segment). ... The main factor underpinning our bullish view on MU has been HBM, for which trends remain strong. Our estimates assume MU achieves their 20% share in HBM by year-end, and we expect that they can maintain that share regardless of whether Samsung begins to participate in leading edge HBM. ... Net, we're encouraged by NT pricing trends and HBM secular growth, balanced by the risk of a tepid cyclical recovery, similar to last year. But memory remains cyclical and bit supply growth has been limited - so if the recovery again stalls in 2H we think investors will simply turn the focus to CY26/27, which likely limits downside for stock." Morgan Stanley: Equal weight rating and $98 price target The firm's target implies more than 23% downside. "Micron may end up guiding more conservatively than we expect, but we expect them to eventually report numbers at least in the rang of our estimates. As conditions in DRAM continue to improve and Micron's AI story is accelerating. In NAND, which we continue to model conservatively, is also showing signs of upside driven by eSSD pull through from AI. ... All forms of MU's AI business are accelerating, we model HBM growth of 54% in August to $2bn and continued growth from there."

Micron reports earnings, revenue beat and issues strong forecast

Micron shares rose in extended trading on Wednesday after the chipmaker reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue and issued a forecast that also topped analysts' estimates. Here's how the company did in comparison with the LSEG consensus: Micron said revenue in the current period, its fiscal fourth quarter, will be about $10.7 billion, up 38% from $7.75 billion a year earlier and ahead of the $9.9 billion average analyst estimate, according to LSEG. Data center revenue more than doubled in the third quarter, Micron said, as total sales jumped 37% from $6.81 billion a year ago. The company has seen soaring demand in the high bandwidth memory, or HBM, market due to the artificial intelligence boom.

Micron generates massive profits as AI fuels demand for high-bandwidth memory

Micron generates massive profits as AI fuels demand for high-bandwidth memory Micron Technology Inc. delivered solid profits today thanks to rampant demand for artificial intelligence chips that drove record quarterly revenue, but it wasn't enough to move the needle in its stock price, which remained flat after-hours. The company reported earnings before certain costs such as stock compensation of $1.91 per share, trouncing the analysts' forecast of $1.60. Revenue for the period came to $9.3 billion, up 37% from a year ago and well ahead of the $8.9 billion analyst target. It was an impressive performance by the chipmaker, which delivered a net profit of $1.88 billion in the quarter, up from just $332 million in the year-ago quarter. Micron Chief Executive Sanjay Mehrotra (pictured) said the company is well on track to deliver record fiscal revenue and a bumper profit for the full year. This bodes well for the future too, he stressed, as it will allow the company to make "disciplined investments to build our technology leadership and manufacturing excellence to satisfy growing AI-driven memory demand." According to the CEO, the company's record-breaking revenue was driven by "all-time-high sales" of dynamic random-access memory chips in the quarter. In particular, it saw an almost 50% sequential increase in sales of its high-bandwidth memory chips. The company is a market leader in HBM chips that bundle numerous DRAM modules closely connected to Nvidia Corp.'s graphics processing units. They have become vital for AI computing, providing the memory those processors need to perform their computations efficiently. Micron has been aided by the struggles of its biggest rival in the memory chip business, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., which has not yet been able to mass-produce HBM chips, resulting in demand for the chips outstripping supply. "Micron isn't the star of AI the way Nvidia is, but high-bandwidth memory chips are the gold standard for powering AI, and the demand for them is insatiable," Rational Equity Armor Fund Portfolio Manager Joe Tigay told Bloomberg. The chipmaker said revenue from its data center business segment more than doubled in the quarter from the previous year, while "consumer-oriented end markets" also had a boost, leading to "strong sequential growth." Looking to the current quarter, Micron is forecasting earnings of $2.35 to $2.65 per share for the current quarter, the midpoint ahead of the Street's forecast of $2.47. It also forecast revenue of $10.4 billion to $11 billion, surpassing analysts' $9.9 billion target. The company is also likely to become even more profitable, for officials said they're expecting an adjusted gross margin of 42% in the current quarter, up from 39% in the period just gone. Micron's stock initially gained more than 3% after the report was published, only for it to retreat. But it has been one of the top five performers in the S&P 500 over the last two months, roughly doubling since April. The intense spending on AI has sent investors scrambling to find beneficiaries of that trend beyond the likes of Nvidia. In the year to date, Micron's shares are up 51%, while the Nasdaq has gained 3.4%.

Micron forecasts revenue above estimates on AI-driven memory chip demand

The memory chip maker reported a nearly 50% jump in third-quarter sales of its HBM chips from the previous three months, and said it will continue to invest in the chips. Micron Technology forecast fourth-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates on Wednesday on robust demand for its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips used in artificial intelligence data centers. The memory chip maker reported a nearly 50% jump in third-quarter sales of its HBM chips from the previous three months, and said it will continue to invest in the chips. The results and the investment plans underscore a rise in demand for AI chips such as those from Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, both of which use Micron's memory chips. Many cloud companies, such as Google, have committed large investments this year toward AI infrastructure expansion, which underlines strong demand for AI-related products. The extent of tariff-related pull-ins from customers in the third quarter was fairly modest, Micron Chief Business Officer Sumit Sadana told Reuters. "So that's not something we lose sleep over," Sadana said, adding that he sees healthy demand for the second half of the calendar year. Micron also expects its market share in HBM chips would grow to match its overall share for dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips sometime in the second half of calendar 2025. The company is one of the providers of high-bandwidth memory chips, besides South Korea's SK Hynix and Samsung . In April, Micron introduced a new business segment, called "cloud memory business unit", which will focus on products used by hyperscalers, as well as HBM chips that help perform data-intensive AI tasks quickly. Micron said it expects fourth-quarter revenue of $10.7 billion, plus or minus $300 million, compared with analysts' average estimate of $9.88 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. For the third quarter, Micron reported revenue of $9.30 billion, compared with estimates of $8.87 billion. Excluding items, earnings per share stood at $1.91, above analysts' average estimate of $1.60.

Micron Earnings: Rocketing AI Demand

The third quarter of fiscal 2025 was a bonanza for memory chip manufacturer Micron. Revenue rose 37% year over year, and adjusted EPS more than tripled, thanks largely to soaring demand for data center memory chips. Revenue from high-bandwidth memory, which is used in AI accelerators, grew by 50% from the previous quarter, while overall data center revenue more than doubled year over year. Micron is currently ramping production of its HBM3E 12H product, and it expects its HBM market share to reach similar levels as its overall DRAM market share in the second half of the calendar year. The company is now shipping HBM to four customers at high volume, and it's delivered samples of its next-generation HBM4 chips to multiple customers as it prepares to ramp production in 2026. Overall DRAM revenue rose 51% year over year to $7.1 billion, with bit shipments up 20% from the prior quarter and average selling prices down slightly. NAND revenue edged up by 4% year over year to $2.2 billion, with a mid-20s-percentage jump in bit shipments and a high-single-digit-percentage drop in average selling prices. For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, Micron expects to produce revenue between $10.4 billion and $11.0 billion, an adjusted gross margin of roughly 42%, and adjusted earnings per share between $2.35 and $2.65. Immediate Market Reaction Shares of Micron were up about 4% in after-hours trading on Wednesday following a strong earnings report. Micron easily beat analyst expectations for revenue and earnings, and its guidance was optimistic as well. AI-related revenue growth was impressive, and with HBM4 set to ramp next year, that part of Micron's business should continue to boom. What to Watch Micron is successfully catching up in the HBM market, with its market share approaching its overall DRAM market share. Overall pricing declines for Micron's DRAM and NAND chips paint a mixed picture, with strong pricing for HBM and server chips likely being offset by weaker pricing in other end markets. Micron noted that customer inventory levels are generally healthy, and recent reports suggest that DRAM prices have been rising, partly due to tariff-related stockpiling. The hangover from that stockpiling could sting Micron later this year, although strong demand from the AI industry could more than offset any weakness.

Micron Reports Record Q3 Revenue Growth

Record-setting data center revenues, aggressive HBM memory scaling, and a $200 billion domestic investment plan featured prominently; management forecasts Q4 revenue (non-GAAP) at $10.7 billion with a 42% gross margin midpoint, underpinned by ongoing AI-driven demand. HBM Outperformance Transforms Competitive Position and Product Mix Data center revenue more than doubled year over year, driven by a nearly 50% sequential jump in HBM (high bandwidth memory -- critical for AI/accelerator platforms) revenue. Revenue from HBM is running at over a $6 billion annualized rate, and Micron became the #2 global data center SSD brand by market share during calendar Q1 2025, providing evidence of cross-platform execution. HBM's die-trade ratio -- reflecting DRAM wafer demand per final product -- will surpass 3 for HBM4, increasing overall DRAM bit supply tightness industry-wide. "I will tell you that in this year, you look at calendar year '25, HBM is growing from last year about $18 billion in revenue to approximately $35 billion in calendar year '25. We see in calendar year '26, if you look at HBM bit demand growth, it will significantly exceed the overall DRAM industry demand growth." -- Sanjay Mehrotra, Chairman, President and CEO This also stresses non-HBM bit supply for the broader industry. Technology and Capacity Investment Accelerate U.S. Expansion and Node Leadership Micron announced a $200 billion, multi-decade U.S. investment plan, including $150 billion in manufacturing and $50 billion in R&D over the next twenty-plus years, with two new Idaho fabs and advanced packaging capabilities, while continuing ramp on one-gamma (1γ) DRAM and G9 QLC NAND nodes. First customer DRAM wafer output at Idaho's new ID1 fab is scheduled for H2 CY2027, with further site expansion and co-location benefits improving scale and time-to-market. "Two weeks ago, with support from the Trump administration, Micron announced plans to invest approximately $200 billion in the U.S, which includes $150 billion in manufacturing and $50 billion in R&D over the next twenty-plus years. As part of this $200 billion investment plan, Micron plans to invest an additional $30 billion beyond previously announced plans, which includes building a second leading-edge memory fab in Boise, Idaho, expanding and modernizing our existing fab in Manassas, Virginia, serving the automotive, aerospace, defense, and industrial markets, and bringing advanced packaging capabilities to the U.S. to support our long-term HBM growth plans after we have established sufficient DRAM wafer scale in our U.S. operations." -- Sanjay Mehrotra, Chairman, President and CEO This multi-phase U.S. investment secures long-term domestic supply and supports advanced technology leadership for next-generation AI workloads. Fiscal Execution and Inventory Positioning Lay Foundation for Multi-Year Growth Free cash flow surpassed $1.9 billion -- highest in six years -- driven by Lean inventories (down $280 million quarter over quarter), tight bit supply, and operating income (non-GAAP) reaching $2.5 billion (26.8% margin). DRAM now accounts for 76% of total revenue (non-GAAP), as Bit shipments increased more than 20% sequentially (non-GAAP). amidst low single-digit DRAM price declines (non-GAAP), while strong sequential growth across each business unit demonstrates diversified demand (non-GAAP). "Ending inventory fiscal Q3 was $8.7 billion or 139 days. Inventory was down $280 million sequentially, and inventory days were down nineteen days sequentially, driven by strong sequential bit shipment growth in both DRAM and NAND. With low inventories on hand and a constructive demand environment, we will continue to focus on improving pricing and further strengthening our product mix." -- Mark Murphy, CFO Looking Ahead Management guides Q4 revenue (non-GAAP) to a record $10.7 billion (+15% sequentially), gross margin to 42% (±100 bps), operating expenses to ~$1.2 billion, and non-GAAP EPS for Q4 is expected to be $2.50 (±$0.15). Capex remains at approximately $14 billion, predominantly supporting HBM ramps, facility construction, and R&D. DRAM bit supply growth for non-HBM products is projected below industry demand, while tight inventories and measured node transitions position Micron to maintain pricing leverage through fiscal year-end.

Micron forecasts revenue above estimates on AI-driven memory chip demand

(Reuters) -Micron Technology forecast fourth-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, betting on robust demand for its memory chips used for artificial intelligence hardware in data centers. Shares of the memory chipmaker rose 4.3% in extended trading. Micron said third-quarter sales of its high-bandwidth memory chips rose 50% from the previous three months, and that it will continue to invest to meet demand. The results and the investment plans signal rise in demand for AI chips such as those from Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, both of which use Micron's memory chips. Many cloud companies such as Google have committed large investments this year on AI infrastructure expansion, which underscores strong demand for AI-related products. Micron is one of the three providers of high-bandwidth memory chips, besides South Korea's SK Hynix and Samsung. In April, Micron introduced a new business segment, called "cloud memory business unit", which will focus on products used by hyperscalers, as well as HBM chips that help perform data-intensive AI tasks quickly. Micron said it expects fourth-quarter revenue of $10.7 billion, plus or minus $300 million, compared with analysts' average estimate of $9.88 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. The company expects an adjusted gross margin of about 42%, plus or minus 1%. Analysts on average expect an adjusted gross margin of 39.15%. For the third quarter, Micron reported revenue of $9.30 billion, compared with estimates of $8.87 billion. Excluding items, earnings per share stood at $1.91, above analysts' average estimate of $1.60 per share. (Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)