All articles tagged with #nand
Phison Electronics warns that NAND production cannot meet demand for about four years, signaling persistent SSD price increases as AI/data-center demand grows. The company is building a strategic inventory for enterprise SSDs and AI workloads, but ramping new NAND capacity is a long process—potentially four years per NAND makers—leading Phison to shift toward AI storage and platforms under its Phison 3.0 plan.
Counterpoint Research shows Micron lagging in NAND shipments behind Samsung (25%) and SK Hynix (22%), with YMTC (14%) narrowly ahead of Micron in shipments but still behind in revenue due to its lower-priced mix. The Chinese memory maker plans to shift toward eSSDs to cement a higher global ranking, while AI-driven NAND demand remains a key factor. Barron’s notes Micron’s stock slipped in premarket trading after a prior rally as investors weigh these competitive dynamics and China’s YMTC as a growing threat.
Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) rose to third in global NAND memory shipments in Q2 with about a 14% share, behind Samsung and SK hynix and ahead of Micron and Kioxia; however, YMTC still lags Micron and Kioxia in NAND revenue and is preparing a mainland China IPO as it expands production. The broader NAND/DRAM market posted record sales, with CXMT holding about 7% of the DRAM market and SK hynix resuming investment in Dalian to boost capacity.
UBS argues Micron’s earnings power is set for a structural reset amid tight memory supply, noting Nvidia cut HBM content in its VR300 GPUs to 512GB from 768GB to stretch scarce memory. HBM premiums are widening, with 2027 industry HBM ASP seen up ~79% YoY and HBM4E potentially above $30/GB, while NAND demand remains healthy. UBS raises Micron’s 2026–2028 EPS to $74.13, $184.89 and $265.65 (well above consensus) and maintains a $1,625 target price, based on roughly 11x its predicted 2029 EPS of about $165.
SK Hynix approved roughly 54 trillion won ($38B) to build two new memory fabs in South Korea (DRAM Yongin Y2 and NAND Cheongju M17) to meet AI-driven demand, sending the stock about 5% lower as Seagate (-7%) and Micron (-2%) slide; the Roundhill Memory ETF is down around 2%. The company argues the capex supports a structural memory shortage in 2027, but investors worry about potential oversupply next year, with a shareholder-return update likely delayed to Q3 2026.
Sandisk delivered a blowout Q4 2026 with $8.97 billion in revenue and strong AI-memory demand, especially in data centers, while executing a $4.5 billion stock repurchase that leaves $14.5 billion remaining under its authorization. Management argued a large NAND TAM — about $500 billion by 2027 — and durable demand from hyperscalers support a multi-year uptrend, even as they stressed confidence in visibility beyond the next few years. The stock nonetheless fell about 6–7% after Q1 2027 revenue guidance of $10.3–$10.8 billion came in below consensus, prompting bears to push back. With continued buybacks and a bullish long‑term outlook, the sell-off is viewed as mispricing the fundamentals by the article’s author.
SK Hynix announced a 54 trillion won ($38.1B) investment to build two memory-chip fabrication plants—Y2 in Yongin for DRAM and M17 in Cheongju for NAND—as AI-driven demand keeps memory prices high; the move is part of a broader master plan to invest 600 trillion won in Yongin and 100 trillion in Cheongju.
Apple posted a record June quarter with revenue around $109.4 billion and strong iPhone growth, but its stock tumbled about 9.7% as management cited a “100-year flood” in memory pricing as the main driver of margin compression, driven by DRAM/NAND cost spikes and supplier dynamics among Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron. Guidance for September suggests continued margin pressure, while analysts offered mixed price targets amid AI memory demand and competition for fabs.
Counterpoint Research estimates the iPhone 18 Pro Max’s 1TB BOM will jump by nearly $300 due to rising NAND and DRAM costs, with the 2nm SoC packaging as a major driver; display and other parts may fall while camera costs rise slightly with new tech. Apple is expected to raise prices by about $200 on average across storage variants, leading to slimmer margins this year.
Rumors suggest Apple’s A20 Pro for the iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max will switch from a 64-bit LPDDR5X to a 96-bit LPDDR6 memory interface, potentially boosting on‑device memory bandwidth and AI performance, while the 1TB/2TB variants reportedly use slower QLC NAND to cut costs, with DRAM costs expected to rise for the new devices.
UBS lifts its DRAM and NAND price forecasts amid ongoing memory-supply constraints, predicting DDR contract prices to rise 32% QoQ in Q3 and 18% QoQ in Q4, with NAND up 30% QoQ in Q3 and 12% QoQ in Q4. TrendForce likewise flags persistent shortages, while UBS notes demand growth outpaces supply (roughly 36% vs about 19% for DRAM in 2027), suggesting higher memory prices could persist and drive substantial industry revenue growth into the late 2020s (with price changes varying by product/brand).
Micron Technology rides a surge in AI-driven memory demand, reporting strong quarterly results and guiding toward about $50 billion in revenue next quarter. Demand spans high-bandwidth memory, DRAM, and NAND, with HBM demand expected to remain tight into 2027–28 as customers lock in capacity. Analysts remain broadly bullish (roughly 29 Buy ratings of 30). The key question for investors is whether Micron can sustain earnings growth to justify its rally, since the memory shortage duration will influence future upside.
Micron Technology shattered expectations with fiscal Q3 revenue of $41.5 billion (well above the ~$33.5 billion consensus) and guided for about $50 billion in Q4, driven by unprecedented demand for DRAM and NAND from data-center build-outs and ongoing AI-related spending. With supply tight and prices rising, the stock has jumped roughly 272% since the start of 2026. Management cautions that tight conditions could persist beyond 2027, but analysts still see upside as memory demand remains robust and valuation appears modest relative to forward earnings, despite potential volatility in the shares.
After Micron’s blowout earnings, Sandisk is seen as a major winner as AI infrastructure spurs demand for NAND flash memory. Sandisk reported higher year‑over‑year and sequential growth than Micron in its latest quarter, and although its stock has a richer valuation, its fundamentals support potential continued momentum into August with the possibility of multi‑year contracts similar to Micron’s.
Micron posted a record quarter with an 84.9% gross margin and disclosed 16 strategic customer agreements covering roughly $100 billion of DRAM/NAND volume, with floor margins well above prior peaks. This signals AI-era pricing power in memory that could pressure Apple’s hardware margins as the iPhone 17/18 cycle hits a tight memory market, while Apple’s Services and large buyback cushion mitigate some risk.