{
  "id": 11212746,
  "title": "Memory squeeze set to tighten through 2028, Micron says",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/01/memory-squeeze-set-to-tighten-through-2028-micron-says",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-01T14:06:48.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Computerworld",
    "slug": "computerworld",
    "url": "https://www.computerworld.com/article/4229635/memory-squeeze-set-to-tighten-through-2028-micron-says-3.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Micron Technology, a leading memory maker, warns that the global memory shortage, which has driven up the cost of servers, storage, and PCs through 2026, will only worsen in 2027 and 2028. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra stated that supply and demand conditions are expected to be much tighter in those years compared to 2026. New cleanroom space planned across the industry is insufficient to address the imbalance, with CEO Mehrotra emphasizing that production from new fabrication facilities takes time to ramp up. Industry forecasts have shifted, with some expecting supply and demand to return to balance by 2028, but Micron's CEO is unsure of when that balance will be achieved.\n\nThe company's CFO, Mark Murphy, reported that inventory levels and supply remain extremely tight, with DRAM prices rising by over 10% in the high teens and NAND prices climbing by around 30% in the fiscal fourth quarter. Market research firm TrendForce expects these prices to continue rising, with conventional DRAM contract prices increasing by 10% to 15% in the fourth quarter and NAND flash prices by 15% to 20%. PC buyers can also expect to pay more, with IDC forecasting average PC selling prices to rise by 17% in 2026.\n\nThe trend is shifting toward less memory per server, as cloud providers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have moved servers from 96GB and 128GB memory modules to 32GB and 64GB modules since the first half of 2026. However, long-term contracts with memory makers have left buyers without such deals as the main source of server DRAM price increases. Analysts advise enterprises to secure multiyear pricing for computing capacity they know they will need to avoid higher hardware and energy costs, as providers will likely pass these on to customers.\n\nWhen deciding to replace existing equipment, experts recommend right-sizing virtual machines, quantizing AI models, and batching workloads more efficiently to cut memory use. Enterprises should also consider optimizing on the existing silicon before purchasing more hardware. Hardware vendors, such as Lenovo, have acknowledged rising memory demand and constrained supply but have not provided guidance for budget-constrained buyers.",
  "summary": "The global memory shortage that has driven up the cost of servers, storage and PCs through 2026 will get worse in 2027 and 2028, according to memory maker Micron Technology. “We expect memory and storage supply-demand conditions to be much tighter in calendar 2027 and 2028 than they were in 2026,” CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said in prepared remarks for the company’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings call.…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "PC Gamer",
        "title": "Micron CEO says it'll be tougher to get memory in the next couple of years than it is today, and keeps saying it over and over again",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/01/micron-ceo-says-itll-be-tougher-to-get-memory-in-the-next-couple-of",
        "published": "2026-10-01T10:13:59.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}