Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra recently said that artificial intelligence has fundamentally transformed the memory industry, long known for its boom-and-dust cycles. “Today there is no AI without memory. AI systems need more memory. They need higher performance memory. They need lower power memory,” Mehrotra told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Mad Money. “So, the value of memory, that equation has totally changed.” His remarks came as Micron builds a vast semiconductor fabrication site near its Boise, Idaho headquarters, part of a planned $250 billion investment in U.S. manufacturing and research. The Boise complex will eventually house two fabs, each the size of 10 football fields, with the first expected to begin wafer production in mid‑2027.
Micron CEO feels AI is creating a more durable source
Mehrotra, who co‑founded SanDisk and has worked in chips for over 40 years, said AI is creating a more durable source of demand across data centers, autonomous vehicles, robots, and consumer devices. “Memory today is essential. That’s why I call it the strategic infrastructure of the AI era,” he said.
Demand outstripping supply
Micron still cannot produce enough to meet demand. Mehrotra said data‑center customers want about 50% more supply than Micron can commit. The company has signed five‑year strategic agreements with 16 customers, with more added since its June earnings call, giving it greater visibility into long‑term demand. “All our customers across our end markets will buy everything that we make,” he said.
US chipmaker Micron reaches $1 trillion market capitalization
In related news, recently, US chipmaker Micron Technology briefly crossed a market value of $1 trillion on May 26 as investor excitement around AI continued to drive demand for memory chips. According to a report by news agency Reuters, the sharp rally made Micron one of the biggest winners of the AI boom, with its shares rising more than 17% during trading. Micron’s stock jumped after brokerage UBS raised its price target on the company to $1,625 from $535, the report said. The company’s shares rose as much as 19.3% during the session before easing slightly later.As cited in the Reuters report, analysts say the surge reflects growing demand for advanced memory chips used in AI data centers and cloud infrastructure. The company’s rise also highlights how investors are now focusing beyond graphics chipmakers and looking at firms supplying key AI hardware components. “The need for pure memory has increased rapidly over very short periods of time, and clearly, Micron sits at the center of it,” Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth, told Reuters. “Today’s crossing of the $1 trillion mark for Micron is just an exclamation point on the story of the massive amount of demand needed to run data centers in this AI revolution,” he added.
