Memory-maker Micron has found a way to keep prices for its products sky-high for another five years, by signing 16 “strategic customer agreements” (SCAs) that include a floor price the company says comes with “a very robust gross margin for Micron, well above our peak quarterly margins in any past cycle.”
Micron CEO, president and chairman Sanjay Mehrotra explained the SCAs in prepared remarks delivered during the company’s Q3 earnings call. He explained that Micron has signed 16 SCAs, most of them covering 2026 to 2030, and that they involve a commitment to buy a certain quantity of product and pay for it in a pricing band that has a floor and a ceiling price. The floor price covers the historically high gross margins mentioned above, and the ceiling price means those who commit to an SCA are insulated if memory prices go even higher.
I wonder if anybody has told Micron about what happens when customers sign a contract but then declare bankruptcy shortly after.
Or what happens to the stock price once the temporary surge in demand fades or new companies enter the market and disrupt it.
That’s the point of the agreement. It locks in that demand by contractually requiring the companies agreeing to it to buy a certain amount of product regardless of whether they actually want it.
Personally, I view this as a sign that Micron believes the AI bubble is going to burst within 5 years, so they’re locking people in at bubble prices now.
Likely they’re just trying to hoard all of the compute in the US despite not producing many of the components, to try to create a substantive gap on AI. DARPA is not used to just being 6 months ahead. But eventually, something’s got to give. If nothing else, China is catching up on chip making.