Micron Technology, the largest American manufacturer of memory chips, has projected quarterly revenue significantly above Wall Street expectations, driven by strong demand linked to the ongoing artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company announced on Wednesday that it anticipates revenue of approximately $61.5 billion for the current quarter, with a margin of error of $1.5 billion, surpassing analysts’ consensus estimate of $57.02 billion.

The surge in demand comes as Micron supplies memory technology to key AI chipmakers, including Nvidia, and benefits from the substantial investments in AI data centers across the United States. Sanjay Mehrotra, Micron’s chief executive, described the AI-driven market as “the most compelling opportunity” the company has ever faced. He characterized fiscal 2026, ending September 3, as an “outstanding year” and expressed optimism that fiscal 2027 would deliver even stronger results. Mehrotra noted that since the last earnings call, industry demand had increased, and he expects memory and storage supply-demand conditions to grow significantly tighter in fiscal years 2027 and 2028 compared to 2026.

Despite the optimistic guidance, Micron’s shares fell 1.2% in after-hours trading, declining $12.55 to $1,052.56. This followed a year in which the company’s shares have soared by 238%. The rise in share value has coincided with a sharp increase in memory-chip prices, primarily due to growing demand from data center developers. This surge has, however, contributed to shortages of high-bandwidth memory chips used in other products such as laptops.

For the quarter ending September 3, Micron reported revenue of $54.2 billion, more than quadrupling from the previous year and exceeding analysts’ forecast of $51.07 billion. Net income saw a dramatic rise, increasing nearly twelvefold to $35.8 billion from $3.2 billion in the same period a year prior.

Founded in 1978 in Boise, Idaho, by twins Ward and Joe Parkinson alongside Dennis Wilson and Doug Pitman, Micron began by breaking ground on its first fabrication plant in 1980 and developed the world’s smallest 256K DRAM memory chip a few years later.

Looking ahead, Mehrotra highlighted that the company anticipates expanding markets beyond data centers, PCs, smartphones, and autonomous vehicles. He emphasized that “humanoid robots and other intelligent autonomous systems” are expected to become significant new sources of memory demand. According to Mehrotra, these robots will have memory and storage requirements comparable to autonomous vehicles, and the growth in both unit sales and memory content could turn “physical AI” into a major driver of demand by the end of the decade.

Micron also disclosed that its financial commitments under long-term supply agreements have grown to $32 billion, up from $22 billion in June. Industry observers have noted the strong performance but caution that the current memory chip shortage may soon reach a peak. Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo, remarked that while Micron’s results underscore the strength of AI-driven memory demand, the market may begin to question how much longer supply will remain constrained.