Micron Reports Record Q4 Revenue of $54.2 Billion on Surging AI Demand

Revenue More Than Quadruples Year-on-Year

Next Quarter Sales Forecast at $61.5 Billion, Beating Market Expectations

Memory Market Remains a Variable as Attention Turns to Durability of Boom

U.S. memory semiconductor company Micron has reported better-than-expected earnings, driven by surging demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers. The company also provided an earnings outlook for this year that surpasses market expectations.

Micron DDR5 RDIMM 64GB. Micron

According to Bloomberg News on the 30th (local time), Micron announced that revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026 reached $54.23 billion. This figure marks a more than fourfold increase from the same period last year ($11.32 billion) and exceeded market expectations, which were around $51.3 billion.

Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) was $33.42, surpassing Wall Street's projection of $31.72.

Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of Micron, stated, "Micron expects even stronger results in fiscal year 2027," adding, "Memory is a key element that enhances AI intelligence and boosts the competitiveness of customers' platforms."

The improvement in results has been attributed to rising demand for memory used in AI. Alongside Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, Micron is a global leader in the HBM market. As generative AI continues to spread, investment in data centers has surged, leading to a significant increase in HBM prices, and even other memory products such as standard DRAM and NAND are experiencing supply shortages.

In fact, Micron's data center business recorded $18 billion in revenue, more than ten times higher than the same period last year, accounting for about one-third of total revenue. Memory for AI data centers has thus become the primary growth driver for Micron's earnings.

The rise in memory prices has also translated into improved profitability. The adjusted gross margin for the fourth quarter was 87%, outpacing the market expectation of 86.2%. This is nearly double the level from the same period last year (45.7%). The main factor was that the increase in memory selling prices far outpaced the rise in production costs.

Micron also projected strong results for the next quarter. The revenue forecast for the first quarter of fiscal year 2027 is $61.5 billion, significantly higher than the market expectation of around $57 billion. The adjusted EPS forecast also stood at $38.15, exceeding the market consensus in the mid-$35 range.

However, the company projects that the gross margin will decline slightly to about 86.3% in the next quarter, which is somewhat below the market expectation of 86.7%.

Nevertheless, memory market conditions remain a variable. While Micron and its competitors are expanding long-term supply contracts to mitigate market volatility, investors are focused on how long the recent high memory prices and margins can be sustained.

In a report issued before the earnings announcement, Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore said, "The short-term outlook remains very positive, sustained by strong demand and rising prices. However, the core question has clearly shifted from ‘how much better can it get’ to ‘how long can these favorable conditions last.’"

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.