Micron Doubles HBM Output, Targets 100K Wafers — SkimNews
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- Micron is reportedly doubling HBM production capacity, targeting ~100,000 wafers per month by year-end — up from 40,000–50,000 last year, with a planned addition of 60,000 wafers monthly (source: South Korea's Electronic Times)
- The ramp is aimed at catching up to SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics on supply of 12-layer HBM4, the memory generation designed for chips such as Nvidia's Rubin GPUs
- J.Gold Associates' Jack Gold told MarketWatch that HBM demand is "insatiable" and margins are high — a major shift from years of being "stuck in relatively low-cost commodity memory making"
- D.A. Davidson's Gil Luria said demand is "already more than double the current supply and still growing very fast," and even Micron's expansion "will likely not be enough to meet demand in that timeframe"
- Micron's stock closed up 6.1% on Friday and has climbed 256% year-to-date as investors price in the HBM opportunity
- AI-driven demand has triggered a severe DRAM shortage that is squeezing consumer electronics, prompting all three memory makers to shift existing production from lower-cost memory toward HBM, per Gold
- Gold noted that new fab capacity is a "multiyear process," leaving memory suppliers with pricing leverage for the foreseeable future even as Micron, SK Hynix and Samsung all announce build-outs
Why it matters: Even with Micron doubling output, D.A. Davidson's Gil Luria says demand is "more than double the current supply" — meaning memory makers retain pricing power and AI chip customers like Nvidia face continued tight allocations. Micron's 256% year-to-date stock gain reflects a market betting that the multiyear HBM ramp still leaves margins in suppliers' hands.
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