Elon Musk Says Memory Is Now AI's Biggest Bottleneck. Here's What That Means for Micron and Sandisk.

5 days ago 15

Keithen Drury, The Motley Fool

Tue, August 11, 2026 astatine 11:56 AM CDT 3 min read

Listening to net calls tin beryllium a large mode for investors to prime up accusation astir the existent concern landscape, and connected the Space Exploration Technologies telephone past week, CEO Elon Musk made a connection that has immense implications for companies each crossed the AI innovation spectrum.

Mostly, however, his assertion pointed to agleam futures for Micron (NASDAQ: MU) and Sandisk (NASDAQ: SNDK), 2 of the biggest representation spot makers successful the world. If you haven't invested successful them yet, his words whitethorn marque you rethink that position. If they're already successful your portfolio, what Musk said should get you excited.

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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Image source: The White House.

Musk called representation the biggest bottleneck successful AI

During SpaceX's Q2 league call, Musk made the remark that the limiting origin successful gathering retired AI computing capableness present is the proviso of memory. He besides noted that representation accumulation capableness is expanding by astir 20% per year, but request has risen by 200%. That imbalance has led to soaring prices, which person propelled shares of Micron and Sandisk higher by triple-digit percentages truthful acold successful 2026.

However, implicit the past period and a half, those 2 stocks person sold disconnected sharply from their peaks owed to rising concerns astir the wellness of AI spending, but I deliberation that's conscionable short-sighted thinking. The hyperscalers person each noted that they expect to summation the gait of their AI infrastructure build-outs for the foreseeable future, which volition enactment further unit connected the representation spot companies to nutrient more. While they are gathering caller foundries to summation their output, it volition beryllium a portion earlier they tin meaningfully boost their accumulation capacity.

In June, Micron absorption said it expects much accumulation capableness to beryllium disposable by mid-2027, and announced that different installation would travel online by 2028. Both of those forecasts are inactive a ways out, which is wherefore the institution told investors to expect the tightness successful the representation spot marketplace to persist beyond 2027.

Sandisk precocious reported results for its fiscal 2026 Q4 (which ended July 3), and it delivered unthinkable 51% quarter-over-quarter growth. Management noted that one-third of that maturation came from accrued output and two-thirds came from higher prices. That shows that Sandisk and its peers person been capable to support boosting prices, and with much accumulation capableness inactive being a ways out, this effect could easy continue.

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