Amid generational demand for its memory chips from the artificial-intelligence investment boom, Micron Technology on Wednesday will report its second-quarter earnings with sky-high expectations.
On average Wall Street analysts are expecting adjusted earnings per share of $9.19, a new record and up from $1.56 last year. Sales are also seen reaching a new record at $19.8 billion, up 146% from last year, which would mark the highest growth rate this century.
For more than a decade, Micron and the other two large memory makers, Samsung and SK Hynix, have been in a very cyclical and commoditized business tied to demand for PCs and smartphones.
Though timing these cycles has vexed many investors, there was a fairly familiar pattern of sales growing quickly, then shrinking. But the memory makers may now be entering a new era, one dominated by demand for high-priced memory and storage chips that go into AI data centers. Micron and its peers are trying to manufacture these chips as quickly as possible, and that’s rippling through the whole memory supply chain to the detriment of consumer goods manufacturers.
Surging demand for the most expensive chips has sent average memory prices skyrocketing. Micron’s record sales growth is expected to come with an equally stunning gross profit margin of 69%, nearing Nvidia’s industry-leading 75% margin.
The memory makers have latched on to a long-term sectoral tailwind that may be overwhelming their usual cyclicality. In the past, cycles crashed as new factories came online, alleviating shortages often at the same time demand was flagging.
But no significant new memory capacity is expected before mid-2027. The memory and storage shortage could persist for another year or more, to the continued benefit of Micron and its peers.
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