Micron: Memory’s Share of System Value Rises to Nearly 50% Amid AI Demand

ChainCatcher report: At the FMS 2026 conference, Micron told Deutsche Bank that AI is reshaping the memory industry landscape, with memory’s share of total system value rising from approximately 10% thirty years ago to nearly 50% today—a trend that continues to accelerate. Both DRAM and NAND are currently in a supply-demand imbalance. Because memory upgrades require physical system disassembly, demand for memory in AI systems is more rigid, with lower price elasticity than the market expects. Strategic Customer Agreements (SCAs) are projected to cover approximately 40% of sales, providing both parties with price stability mechanisms. Micron’s management described CPU-side AI agent demand as a “pre-season warm-up,” viewing it as a new growth pillar outside the GPU ecosystem. Regarding emerging technologies such as SRAM, Micron believes their scalability is limited and unlikely to challenge HBM’s core position; currently, only about 5% of systems run such specialized workloads. Deutsche Bank maintains a “Buy” rating, citing Micron’s unique advantage of “growing without sacrificing profitability.” During FMS, SanDisk and SK Hynix jointly released the first HBF technical specification, but Micron considers its real-world value and commercial prospects still uncertain.