Micron guides to $61.5bn revenue as memory crunch reshapes quarterly earnings

Micron reported better-than-expected quarterly results on Wednesday and issued guidance well above consensus. Revenue nearly quadrupled from $11.32 billion a year earlier, according to the company's statement. Net income climbed to $37.7 billion, or $32.87 per share, from $3.2 billion, or $2.83 per share.

For the fiscal first quarter, Micron said it expects revenue of about $61.5 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $38.15. Analysts polled by LSEG had expected $35.40 in adjusted earnings per share on $57 billion in revenue, CNBC reported.

The stock rose slightly in extended trading. It has soared more than 500% in the past year.

One number explains the quarter

DRAM revenue increased 343% from a year ago to $39.8 billion, representing 73% of total sales. Micron is the only US-based maker of high-bandwidth memory, HBM, which is stacked general-purpose DRAM. Advanced graphics and central processors from Nvidia and AMD need increasing amounts of it to handle AI workloads, and the world's leading suppliers cannot make enough.

CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said on the earnings call that the company has a "strong roadmap for future HBM products" and is working with Nvidia on the industry's "first custom HBM implementation." Micron is investing $250 billion to build two new campuses for making HBM. The largest broke ground in Clay, New York, in January. Its first new fab in Boise, Idaho, is scheduled to come online next year.

Hendi Susanto, a portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds, wrote in an email after the release that it was "another strong beat and raise for Micron."

"At this point, I have not heard any negative data points pointing to the memory cycle reversing toward a decline anytime soon for the foreseeable future," Susanto wrote.

The shortage has not been cost-free for the rest of the industry. Rising memory prices have pushed up costs for consumer electronics including Apple's iPads and MacBooks, CNBC noted. HBM leaders SK Hynix and Samsung are also in the middle of large new HBM factory buildouts in South Korea. Micron holds the smallest HBM market share of the three. Its market cap has still topped $1.2 trillion.

Mehrotra participated in a summit on AI regulation hosted by President Donald Trump on Tuesday. That came days after attending a White House dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping on his first visit to the US in more than a decade, according to the same report. On the call, Mehrotra said Micron increased compensation for every employee in fiscal 2026. Hundreds of Micron staffers threatened to strike at its factories in Taiwan over labor negotiations and pay. Similar strikes at SK Hynix and Samsung have resulted in bonuses upwards of $500,000.

Apple was the missing name at Trump's AI lunch

The regulatory backdrop to the chip cycle was on display in Washington this week. When Trump gathered executives from the world's most powerful tech companies at the White House on Tuesday to discuss artificial intelligence, one company was absent: Apple, CNBC reported. Neither Chairman Tim Cook nor his successor as CEO, John Ternus, attended. Leaders from every other tech megacap lunched with the president.

Apple did not respond to CNBC's questions about the meeting, nor did the White House. Altimeter Capital CEO Brad Gerstner, a Trump ally, called Apple's absence a "nothing burger" in an interview with CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday.

"I can assure you, they're very much read in on all of this, and I suspect they agree with all of it," Gerstner said.

Cook stepped down as Apple CEO in September, handing the role to hardware specialist Ternus. He now handles "engaging with policymakers around the world" as executive chairman, the company said. The Financial Times reported that Anthropic's IPO filing warns AI could threaten humanity. MIT Technology Review noted that Florida has asked a court to block OpenAI from developing new models. OpenAI also scrapped a model called GPT-6.1 Astra over safety concerns, saying it "didn't quite meet the bar."

Software earnings get a services lift

Elsewhere in software, the read-across from Accenture's quarterly results lifted the sector on Thursday. Accenture shares jumped 21% after a revenue beat and an upbeat outlook, Seeking Alpha reported. Cognizant, IBM and Wipro rose in sympathy, according to Benzinga. Investing.com described a global software rally after the numbers landed. ServiceNow rallied as Accenture earnings lifted software stocks, TradingView reported.

Progress Software offered the counter-example. The company posted an earnings beat but a revenue miss, and its shares fell about 6.3%, according to Barron's and MarketBeat. Progress also said its Domo deal would weigh on fiscal 2027 margin, while quarterly earnings rose annually, Yahoo Finance reported. AlphaStreet said the company beat profit estimates by 11.2%.

The wider pattern is uneven. Atlassian reported 27.6% quarterly revenue growth, AD HOC NEWS said. Palantir stock soared 60% in the third quarter after a first-half rout, Benzinga reported. Workday cut 2.5% of its workforce as it lowered its third-quarter earnings outlook, according to a 29 September report.

None of that changes the memory math. Micron's guidance implies the supply crunch runs at least another quarter. The company is betting $250 billion that it runs much longer.