Huaer Street analysts believe that due to the sharp increase in demand for memory in artificial intelligence, DRAM and NAND flash memory will be in short supply in 2026, and the news has led to Micron Technology's stock price jump.
According toSeeking Alpha, Citi published a research report on the 9th, pointing out that it is expected that the supply and demand scores of DRAM and NAND flash memory will reach -1.8% and -4.0% in 2026.
Reports say that AI demand will shift from training to speculation and edge AI devices, thereby driving the memory demand of general-purpose servers, while mobile DRAM, high-frequency wide memory (HBM), and high-density NAND flash memory (such as QLC eSSD) will also rise.
Although demand for traditional memory has also increased, suppliers continue to invest in HBM and steal traditional memory first. As a result, Citi predicts that the overall memory market supply and demand will increase in 2026, thereby pushing up prices.
Citi therefore reiterated the investment evaluations of Micron, SanDisk, Samsung Electronics, and SK Hynix as "buy in".
Citi predicts that in 2026, DRAM supply and demand will increase by 17.5% and 20.1% year-on-year, and NAND flash memory supply will increase by 16.5% year-on-year, but demand will jump by 21.4%.
In addition, Citigroup predicts that wafer-fab equipment spending will increase by 11.1% year-on-year in 2026, mainly because memory suppliers are likely to continue to invest in HBM first rather than traditional memory. This means that DRAM-related capital expenditure will increase by 12.2% year-on-year, and NAND flash memory-related capital expenditure will increase by 9% year-on-year.
Micro closed at 2.88% on the 9th and closed at US$135.24, reaching a new closing high since July 10, 2024, with a surge of only the 30 constituent stocks in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (AMD). Micron has increased by 60.69% since the beginning of the year.