On Wednesday, September 30, the American memory giant Micron Technology (Micron) released its fourth-quarter financial report for the 2026 fiscal year, with both revenue and profits significantly surpassing market expectations. Micron also stated that the financial commitments from customers under long-term supply agreements have increased from $220 billion announced in June to $320 billion. The remaining performance obligations have risen to approximately $1.5 trillion, indicating that the demand related to AI remains robust.
The financial report from Micron shows that the fourth-quarter revenue for the 2026 fiscal year reached $54.23 billion, nearly four times higher than the $11.32 billion in the same period last year. This figure exceeded the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG)’s expectation of $51.07 billion and the previous quarter’s $41.46 billion. The adjusted earnings per share were $33.42, better than the expected $31.61.
For the full 2026 fiscal year, the revenue reached approximately $133.19 billion, a 256% year-on-year increase. Revenue from Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) in the fourth quarter was $39.8 billion, accounting for 73% of the total revenue. In addition, the core data center business revenue was around $18 billion, a 56% increase quarter-on-quarter.
Micron expects the first-quarter revenue for the 2027 fiscal year to be around $61.5 billion (with a fluctuation of $15 billion up or down) and adjusted earnings per share to be $38.15, significantly higher than the analysts’ expected revenue of $57 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $35.40 from LSEG’s survey.
Mark Murphy, Micron’s CFO, stated that the remaining performance obligations under these agreements have increased to about $1.5 trillion, up from around $1 trillion reported in the previous quarter. He added that, “We expect to set another record in the 2027 fiscal year, with revenue growth expected in each quarter.”
Benefiting from strong AI demand, Micron’s stock price has surged by over 200% this year, and its market value surpassed the $1 trillion mark for the first time in May.
While this trend has led to a significant increase in demand for High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) and general memory, major manufacturers like Micron, Samsung Electronics, and SK Hynix are struggling to fully meet market demand. Analysts point out that this situation has driven up memory prices, which may also reflect in the final selling prices of consumer electronics.
Sanjay Mehrotra, Micron’s CEO, mentioned that customers have significantly increased their financial commitments under long-term supply agreements, with most being cash prepayments. The total amount has jumped from $22 billion announced in June to $32 billion.
He noted that the supply-demand balance in the memory market for the 2027 and 2028 fiscal years is expected to be even tighter. The company has secured supply agreements for the majority of HBM capacity for 2027 and plans to increase capital expenditures to expand production capacity.
Manish Bhatia, President and COO of Micron, emphasized in an interview, “Compared to the often-discussed issues of logic chips or data center power outside, storage has become one of the key bottlenecks for AI development because data centers have become the largest market for storage products.”
Micron has already received orders far exceeding its existing capacity. The company is accelerating the expansion of production capacity in the United States, Japan, and other locations, including new HBM parks in Clay, New York, and Boise, Idaho. The first batch of wafers is expected to be offline by mid-2027, but it will take several quarters for the new capacity to have a tangible impact on the market.
Bob O’Donnell, Chief Analyst of TECHnalysis Research, wrote in a report, “Micron’s overall better-than-expected profitability and forecasts are enough to dispel doubts about the resilience of AI infrastructure.”
Hendi Susanto, Portfolio Manager at Gabelli Funds, stated in an interview that there is currently no negative data indicating that the memory industry is about to enter a downturn. He described it as “another strong performance of exceeding expectations and adjusting guidance for Micron.”
We are starting to see the potential for a tech comeback🚀