The memory chip crunch is paying off for this U.S. company

Micron Technology, the largest U.S. computer-memory chip maker, reported third-quarter earnings that sent its shares up more than 13% in after-hours trading, as the company benefits from a global memory chip shortage driven by surging AI demand [1]. The Idaho-based company's revenue quadrupled to $41.45 billion compared with the same period a year ago, while profit rose from $1.88 billion to $28.2 billion year-over-year [1]. Micron also forecast fourth-quarter revenue between $49 billion and $51 billion [1]. The results came the same week Micron disclosed a deal to supply AI lab Anthropic with memory and storage chips and participated in Anthropic's Series H funding round [1]. Micron is one of the "Big Three" computer memory manufacturers, alongside South Korea's Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix [2]. Founded in 1978 in Boise, Idaho, it is the only major American computer memory manufacturer [2]. Sanjay Mehrotra has served as president and CEO since 2017 [2]. On May 26, 2026, Micron became the latest U.S. company to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization, amid surging demand for its High Bandwidth Memory chips [2]. The memory chip shortage has been intensified by the AI boom. Memory manufacturers prioritized production of High Bandwidth Memory essential for AI servers, which led to a global memory supply shortage [4]. An estimated 70% of memory production in 2026 is going to data centers, primarily AI data centers [4]. Major tech companies are projected to spend $650 billion on AI data centers in 2026 [4]. Apple CEO Tim Cook warned a week ago that "price increases for its products are unavoidable" [1]. SK Hynix, another member of the Big Three, counts Apple, Nvidia, and Microsoft among its major customers [3]. Nvidia, which controls more than 80% of the market for GPUs used in AI training and deployment, has been a primary beneficiary of the AI infrastructure buildout, becoming the first company to surpass $5 trillion in market capitalization in 2025 [5]. Micron's shares were trading around $83 in early 2024, with a market cap of about $91 billion [1]. They closed at $1,048.51 on the day of the earnings report, giving the company a market cap of $1.2 trillion [1]. The company expanded its manufacturing footprint significantly through acquisitions, including the 2013 purchase of Japan's Elpida Memory, which was renamed Micron Memory Japan [6].