| | | Good bullish article on Micron.
Exclusive interview: Micron to capitalize on 2026 HBM market share, aggressively raises automotive memory prices
Siu Han, Taipei; Charlene Chen, DIGITIMES Asia | Friday 26 September 2025
Memory giant Micron delivered strong financial results and expects the tight supply of DRAM and other memory products to continue through 2026. Micron executive vice president and chief business officer Sumit Sadana told DIGITIMES in an exclusive interview that the company is confident in offering the world's best sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM4), with sample data and specifications surpassing those of any competitors in the market.
He further expressed optimism for Micron's HBM market share in 2026 to exceed that of 2025. Should there be significant shifts in the HBM market share, he believes these changes would occur between the other two major competitors without materially impacting Micron.
Micron signals price increases with temporary freeze
Micron recently proposed a temporary price freeze to customers, seen as a leading move signaling price increases across the memory industry. Sadana explained that recent months have shown substantial growth in demand for both DRAM and NAND, primarily driven by robust expansion in data centers, which has tightened overall supply and demand dynamics. The pause in pricing aims to establish appropriate pricing strategies tailored to different market segments.
In addition, Micron has significantly raised prices and expects the market to remain tight throughout 2026, potentially becoming even more constrained over time.
Automotive memory ROI lags rising costs
Sadana stressed that as the world's largest supplier of automotive memory, Micron sees clear growth in DRAM usage within vehicles. He projects that over the next decade, automotive will become one of the fastest-growing sectors in Micron's DRAM business.
Micron's future strategy involves close collaboration with automotive customers and substantially adjusting automotive memory pricing to reach more reasonable levels.
Although specific price increase percentages were not disclosed, market rumors suggest a broad DRAM price hike of 20-30%, with automotive and industrial-grade DRAM products possibly increasing up to 70%.
According to Sadana, the automotive sector represents a critical transformation area for Micron due to its "high service cost" nature. It requires highly diversified product portfolios, stringent quality standards, extensive industry certifications, and long product lifecycles to support multi-year production cycles while maintaining exceptional quality.
Additionally, the automotive market consists of many relatively low-volume components, which negatively impact fab production efficiency and drive up manufacturing costs.
Micron has made significant investments—nearly US$2 billion—in its Virginia fab using 1a DRAM process technology dedicated to automotive and long lifecycle customers such as those in industrial fields. However, as costs rise, Micron believes the return on investment (ROI) does not keep pace with increased expenses, necessitating higher pricing for automotive products.
Micron confident in selling out HBM capacity in 2026
As a key profit driver, Micron's HBM revenue grew to nearly US$2 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2025, implying annualized revenue approaching US$8 billion.
Recent media reports containing inaccuracies about Micron's HBM prompted Sadana to respond directly to DIGITIMES. He reiterated strong confidence that Micron offers the best HBM4 product currently available, leveraging the 1ß DRAM node combined with advanced HBM stacking technology, sophisticated packaging, and CMOS capabilities at its DRAM fabs.
Although some question why Micron's HBM4 does not use logic chips as base dies, actual performance shows faster sample shipments compared to competitors and a more promising product roadmap.
Regarding the next-generation HBM4E, Micron plans to provide customized base die substrates designed via TSMC foundry processes. This approach addresses customer demands for customization, enabling IP sharing and integration into Micron's substrate chips.
In its latest earnings report, Micron mentioned having signed most pricing agreements for HBM3E for the coming year. Sadana added that in 2026, global HBM shipments will still be dominated by HBM3E, with HBM4 representing a smaller portion. Micron has locked in prices for most HBM3E supplies in 2026 and is actively collaborating with customers on HBM4.
Once specifications, schedules, and product mixes are finalized, agreements for HBM4 alongside remaining HBM3E volumes are expected to be concluded. Micron anticipates fully selling out its HBM capacity in 2026 just as it did in 2025.
Article edited by Jerry Chen " |
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