Soaring memory chip demand helps Micron quadruple its revenue and crush expectations again
Memory chip maker Micron Technology Inc. more than quadrupled its revenue growth in the most recent quarter as it continued to benefit from surging demand linked to the artificial intelligence industry.
The company reported third-quarter earnings before certain costs such as stock compensation of $25.11 per share, crushing Wall Street’s target of $20.78 by a wide margin. Revenue for the period surged to $41.46 billion, up from just $9.3 billion in the year-ago quarter and well above the Street’s target of $35.84 billion.
Micron said its gross margin, which is its profit after accounting for the cost of goods sold, jumped to an incredible 84.9%, up from 74.9% in the previous quarter and just 39% one year earlier. All told, net income came to $28.24 billion at the end of the quarter, up from just $1.89 billion in the same period one year ago.
Micron’s gross margin is now the highest percentage among all major publicly traded U.S. tech companies, surpassing the previous leader Meta Platforms Inc., which recorded a gross margin of 81.9% in its latest quarter. In comparison, the AI chipmaker Nvidia Corp. only has a gross margin of 75%. It represents a remarkable increase in pricing power for a company that has long been seen as a manufacturer of a commodity product.
