Memory Chip Shortage Warning: Chipmakers and analysts are predicting a memory chip shortage that could impact consumer electronics and automotive industries next year, as demand for chips driven by artificial intelligence takes precedence.
Impact on Orders: Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp's CEO noted that concerns over memory chip availability are causing customers to hesitate in placing orders for other chip types, leading to potential production bottlenecks.
Rising Prices and Supply Constraints: Memory suppliers are raising prices due to shrinking availability, with reports indicating that Samsung has increased prices on select memory chips by up to 60%, which could lead to higher retail prices for consumer products.
Global Implications: The memory shortage is a global issue, particularly affecting low-cost device markets in China, and is expected to create increased price and demand pressures for products like smartphones and laptops.
Wall Street analysts forecast MU stock price to fall over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for MU is 336.12 USD with a low forecast of 235.00 USD and a high forecast of 500.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
26 Analyst Rating
Wall Street analysts forecast MU stock price to fall over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for MU is 336.12 USD with a low forecast of 235.00 USD and a high forecast of 500.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
24 Buy
2 Hold
0 Sell
Strong Buy
Current: 397.580
Low
235.00
Averages
336.12
High
500.00
Current: 397.580
Low
235.00
Averages
336.12
High
500.00
William Blair
William Blair
Outperform
initiated
2026-01-22
New
Reason
William Blair
William Blair
Price Target
AI Analysis
2026-01-22
New
initiated
Outperform
Reason
William Blair initiated coverage of Micron with an Outperform rating and no price target. The firm says the memory "supercycle" is driving record profitability for Micron. The company servers as one of the three major global memory suppliers and access to memory has "become a key bottleneck" in AI racks and systems, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Blair believes Micron will benefit from significant selling price growth and higher margin products. It expects the company to grow non-GAAP earnings over 275% over the next two years.
Stifel
Brian Chin
Buy
maintain
$300 -> $360
2026-01-20
New
Reason
Stifel
Brian Chin
Price Target
$300 -> $360
2026-01-20
New
maintain
Buy
Reason
Stifel analyst Brian Chin raised the firm's price target on Micron to $360 from $300 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares after the company announced its acquisition of a semiconductor wafer fabrication site from Powerchip Semiconductor in Taiwan for $1.8B. The firm, which notes there are no changes to its modeling, remains "upbeat" on the persistence of favorably tight memory market conditions through and beyond FY26.
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TD Cowen
Buy
upgrade
$300 -> $450
2026-01-20
New
Reason
TD Cowen
Price Target
$300 -> $450
2026-01-20
New
upgrade
Buy
Reason
TD Cowen raised the firm's price target on Micron to $450 from $300 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The firm says memory shortages are worsening, not improving. TD sees see further upside to Micron's 2026 earnings power. TD's work suggests DRAM and NAND shortages are worsening, supporting a firmer pricing outlook into the second half of 2026, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm thinks Micron shares may continue to outperform peers in the near term.
Aletheia
Warren Lau
Buy -> Hold
downgrade
2026-01-20
New
Reason
Aletheia
Warren Lau
Price Target
2026-01-20
New
downgrade
Buy -> Hold
Reason
Aletheia analyst Warren Lau downgraded Micron to Hold from Buy without a price target. The firm believes it could take time for Micron to improve and regain confidence in its high bandwidth memory offering.
About MU
Micron Technology, Inc. provides memory and storage solutions. The Company delivers a portfolio of high-performance dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), NAND, and NOR memory and storage products through its Micron and Crucial brands. The Company's products enable advancing in artificial intelligence (AI) and compute-intensive applications. Its segments include Cloud Memory Business Unit (CMBU), Core Data Center Business Unit (CDBU), Mobile and Client Business Unit (MCBU) and Automotive and Embedded Business Unit (AEBU). CMBU is focused on memory solutions for large hyperscale cloud customers, and high bandwidth memory (HBM) for all data center customers. CDBU is focused on memory solutions for mid-tier cloud, enterprise, and OEM data center customers and storage solutions for all data center customers. MCBU is focused on memory and storage solutions for mobile and client segments. AEBU is focused on memory and storage solutions for the automotive, industrial, and consumer segments.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
