US memory giant Micron believes that the shortage in the memory market when it comes to HBM, NAND and DRAM products will last well beyond calendar year 2026. Micron's thoughts were shared by JPMorgan in an investment note where the bank shared insights that the firm's management shared at the 54th J.P. Morgan Annual Global Technology, Media and Communications (TMC) Conference held in Boston, Massachusetts.
JPMorgan Convinced About Multi-Year AI Memory Bull Case Following Micron's Presentation
In its coverage, JPMorgan outlines that at the TMC Conference, Micron remarked that it expects tightness in the memory market to continue beyond calendar year 2026 since high-performance memory chips add to the performance of artificial intelligence models. JPMorgan added that Micron also believes that since the supply of the HBM, NAND and DRAM chips is difficult to increase, it expects the tightness to last for quite some time.
The bank adds that several factors are driving the tightness in the memory market. Primarily, the tightness can be attributed to the decreasing rate of performance gain with subsequent generations of memory chips and the larger die sizes of newer HBM chips. Additionally, EUV lithography is also expected to play a key role in the latest DRAM memory fabrication.
Micron Makes Key Revelations About HBM4 Memory Production
According to JPMorgan, Micron executives remarked at the event that due to the booming demand from AI applications, the 1-gamma node is expected to become the firm's highest volume DRAM node on a total-wafer out basis in its history. HBM memory chips, used typically in AI GPUs, rely on DRAM modules by stacking them on top of each other and then packaging the entire chip. Micron also remarked that it is continuing to integrate EUV chip manufacturing lithography into 1-gamma memory production.
On the production front, Micron also revealed that due to the strong AI demand, HBM4 production is ramping up twice as fast as HBM3 production. It added that the next-generation HBM4E memory should start its production ramp in calendar year 2027 with the first sample using DRAM modules made on the 1-gamma production node.
Finally, Micron also outlined that the growth in AI context windows and inference workloads has also allowed it to gain market share in the solid-state drive (SSD) market. The firm is working closely with its customers to develop products suitable for their needs instead of supplying off-the-shelf products.
About the author: Ramish is a seasoned technology writer and editor with more than a decade of experience. He specializes in semiconductor fabrication and market analysis. With a background in finance and supply chain management - via his bachelors in Finance and a micromasters in supply chain management from MIT - Ramish combines financial rigor with deep industry insight to deliver accurate and authoritative coverage.
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