Bloomberg Tech Micron Warns of Heavy Spending Amid Memory Crunch
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Mar 19, 2026 Micron's big spending spree to meet soaring memory demand and how that reshapes the chip supply chain. Alibaba's bold $100B cloud and AI revenue target amid profitability questions. Uber's planned multibillion-dollar bet on Rivian robotaxis and what fleet scale-up looks like. Broader tug-of-war between AI infrastructure demand, regional risks, and investor sentiment.
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Micron's Profit Spike Masks Heavy CapEx Needs
- Micron's revenue and earnings jumped due to surging memory prices, especially from HBM used in AI accelerators.
- The company must significantly increase CapEx to expand HBM and DRAM production, creating short-term spending pressure despite strong margins.
HBM Shortage Drives Pricing Power And Customer Risk
- High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) demand for AI is creating tight supply concentrated among Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix.
- Reports question Micron's share for HBM4 on NVIDIA's next chips, though Micron says it's shipping HBM4 volume designed for Veriruban.
Account For AI Build Costs In Inflation Forecasts
- Expect AI-driven infrastructure builds to add near-term inflationary pressure through data centers and related goods.
- Monitor energy and component bottlenecks, as they combine with oil shocks to influence central bank decisions.