Memory manufacturer Micron has indicated that shortages in memory and storage are expected to worsen from 2027 through 2028. The company's CEO, Sanjay Mehrotra, noted that it is difficult to predict when supply and demand will reach equilibrium, suggesting that shortages could persist beyond 2028.
HardwareMicron TechnologySanjay Mehotra
Micron CEO suggests memory and storage shortages could last until 2028
This article is a translation. Read the Japanese original
The driving force behind this is the rapid surge in memory demand accompanying the increasing size of AI models. Demand is expanding not only for HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) for AI chips, but also for server DRAM and NAND flash used in SSDs. According to Micron's projections, while the industry's annual capacity-based shipment growth is expected to be in the low 20% range for DRAM and the mid-20% range for NAND in 2027 and 2028, demand is expected to continue outstripping supply.
The impact of rising prices is already evident. The company revealed that it has already secured contracts with customers for a large portion of the HBM it will supply in 2027 at prices significantly higher than those in 2026.
Furthermore, the company identified "Physical AI," such as autonomous vehicles and humanoid robots, as future drivers of demand. Micron anticipates that a single Level 4 or higher autonomous vehicle will require over 200GB of memory and several TB of storage, stating that these sectors could significantly boost demand by the end of the 2020s.
Sources
- MicronのCEOがメモリ不足が2028年かそれ以降も続く可能性があると警告、「顧客は今年支払った価格よりも『はるかに高い価格』を支払うことになるだろう」 （GIGAZINE、2026-10-02）