The memory market, once considered one of the dullest and most cyclical segments of the semiconductor industry, has suddenly become the center of a new technology race. Demand for artificial intelligence has dramatically shifted the balance of power: Micron Technology and SK Hynix both surpassed the $1 trillion market capitalization mark, joining Samsung, which had reached that level a few weeks earlier.
This outcome is historic for the industry—for the first time, the three largest memory makers are all members of the trillion-dollar valuation club. Micron’s surge was particularly striking: its shares on Wall Street jumped 19% in a single trading session, the best daily performance since 2011. The catalyst was a revised assessment from UBS, which sharply raised its price target for the company.
The main growth driver is HBM memory, a high-bandwidth memory essential for NVIDIA accelerators and other systems that train and run large AI models. Without it, modern supercomputers simply could not process massive datasets efficiently. Against this backdrop, Micron’s revenue in the second quarter of 2026 reached $23.9 billion, up 196% year over year, and its forecast for the next quarter was raised to $33 billion.
However, there is a downside for ordinary consumers. Manufacturers are increasingly shifting production capacity toward HBM and other AI infrastructure components, leaving fewer resources for traditional DRAM and NAND chips. These chips are used in laptops, desktops, smartphones, and other consumer electronics, so reduced supply is already putting pressure on prices.
Dell CEO Michael Dell has warned that demand for memory could outstrip supply at least until 2028. If that forecast holds, buyers should prepare for more expensive computers, smartphones, and storage devices. AI has made memory makers some of the biggest winners in the new technology cycle, but the mass consumer will likely bear part of the cost.