Memory maker warns shortages will get worse in 2027, as CEO celebrates ‘much higher prices’
Micron says memory demand will exceed supply through 2028, driving higher prices
RAM shortages could continue well into 2028, and potentially even longer, memory maker Micron has told its investors.
Speaking during the company’s FY 2026 earnings call, CEO and chairman Sanjay Mehrotra said Micron has already sold most of the memory it expects to produce next year, with customers set to pay “much higher prices” than they did in 2026.
“In calendar 2027 as well as 2028, we see demand exceeding supply,” Mehrotra said, via The Register. “In fact, we see greater tightness in the industry in 2027 and in 2028 versus 2026. Overall, the supply-demand environment is only getting tighter.”
He added: “We do not have line of sight to when supply and demand will return to balance.”
Micron plans to bring new factories online in 2028, backed by $25 billion in planned capital expenditure during the first half of its new financial year. However, the company warned that the additional capacity won’t immediately improve availability or lower prices.
The sharply rising cost of memory is widely attributed to demand for AI data centers, with major vendors signing long-term deals with AI firms.
Rising memory and storage prices have forced nearly every consumer electronics company to raise prices accordingly.
As the price of memory and storage continues to rise, nearly every company using these components has been increasing product prices accordingly. This summer, Microsoft raised the prices of its Xbox consoles by between $100 and $150, while Apple also raised prices across its products on the same day.
Before that, Valve confirmed its Steam Machine would retail for over $1,000, saying its “original goal for the price of Steam Machine is no longer viable”, and Sony and Nintendo also increased the price of their hardware.
The three largest RAM manufacturers in the world, including Micron, are being sued for allegedly fixing the supply and prices of memory. The class action complaint alleges that the companies – which make almost all of the world’s supply of DRAM – have been working together to fix component prices while reducing supply.
“The DRAM oligopolists have simultaneously cut production, coordinated a pivot to HBM and exit from DDR3 and DDR4, and otherwise decreased and locked up conventional DRAM supply while prices charged up with mind-blowing scale and rapidity,” it claims.
It argues that as DRAM shortages led to prices rising, “still Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron continued to squeeze conventional DRAM supply, simultaneously and publicly directing their resources toward less-profitable-per-die HBM – or in some cases, simply junking conventional DRAM supply channels altogether”.
