By Trefis Team
Publication Date: 2026-11-07 09:08:00
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Investors buy both NVIDIA (NVDA) and Micron Technology (MU) to capture the spending on AI data centers: NVIDIA sells the computing systems, and Micron sells DRAM and NAND memory. Micron trades at 9.2 times earnings compared with 23.4 for NVIDIA, making it look like the cheaper way in. Yet NVIDIA said in August that soaring memory prices had prompted a reset of its gross margin expectations. So will memory prices keep rising, and can NVIDIA keep growing while it pays them?
Are Memory Prices Still Rising For Micron?
They are, although Micron expects the increases to slow. During its August 26, 2026 call, NVIDIA said memory price increases had exceeded its expectations and were headed even higher. For NVIDIA, that serves as a cost warning, but for Micron, those same prices are what it sells at.
Micron provided a pricing outlook on its September 30 call. Management guided fiscal Q1 2027 revenue of $60 billion to $63 billion, compared with $54.2 billion in fiscal Q4 2026. That forecast assumes only single-digit growth in the bits of DRAM and NAND that Micron ships, leaving price and product mix to supply the rest of the rise.
Management also said price increases would continue at a more moderate pace. Micron’s 86.0% guide for its gross margin sits just below the 86.8% it reported for fiscal Q4.
Can NVIDIA Keep Growing As Memory Costs Rise?
So far it can, although its margin is…
