[News] Micron Technology’s Strong Fiscal Report and AI Server Demand Surge

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Micron Technology, the U.S. memory giant, has surpassed Wall Street expectations in its projected revenue for the current quarter (December-February). The main factor contributing to this success is the robust demand from data centers, offsetting the sluggish recovery in the PC and smartphone markets.

According to Micron’ released fiscal report for their first quarter (from August to November, 2023) on December 20th, Micron’s revenue rose from USD 4.01 billion in the same period last year to USD 4.73 billion.

Looking ahead to the current quarter (Q2), Micron anticipates revenue reaching USD 5.3 billion ± USD 200 million and diluted loss per share reaching USD 0.28 ± USD 0.07, which are better than market’s consensus.

Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra noted that strong execution and pricing strategies contributed to Q1 financial results surpassing expectations. He further stated that, ‘Demand for AI servers has been strong as data center infrastructure operators shift budgets from traditional servers to more content-rich AI servers.’

Mehrotra indicated that Micron is in the final stages of qualifying HBM3e to be used in NVIDIA’s next generation Grace Hopper GH200 and H200 platforms. 

Micron now predicts that PC sales are expected to grow by a low to mid-single-digit percentage in calendar 2024, after two years of double-digit percentage PC unit volume declines. There is also hope for smartphone unit shipments to grow modestly in 2024.

For the HBM market, TrendForce’s latest research indicates that NVIDIA plans to diversify its HBM suppliers for more robust and efficient supply chain management. Samsung’s HBM3 (24GB) is anticipated to complete verification with NVIDIA by December this year.

The progress of HBM3e, as outlined in the timeline below, shows that Micron provided its 8hi (24GB) samples to NVIDIA by the end of July, SK hynix in mid-August, and Samsung in early October.

Given the intricacy of the HBM verification process—estimated to take two quarters—TrendForce expects that some manufacturers might learn preliminary HBM3e results by the end of 2023. However, it’s generally anticipated that major manufacturers including Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron will have definite results by 1Q24. Notably, the outcomes will influence NVIDIA’s procurement decisions for 2024, as final evaluations are still underway.

Read more

• Manufacturers Anticipate Completion of NVIDIA’s HBM3e Verification by 1Q24; HBM4 Expected to Launch in 2026, Says TrendForce
• [News] Memory Giants Samsung & Micron Actively Embrace DDR5 and HBM as Favorable Choices

(Photo credit: Micron)