Gate Research: Market Cap of Big Three Memory Giants Collectively Breaks Trillion Mark

Summary

• The total market capitalization of the global storage track has experienced explosive growth, with the three giants Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology all surpassing the trillion-dollar market cap mark.

• The continuous growth in demand for AI large model training and inference is significantly increasing data centers' demand intensity and value for storage products such as High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), DDR5, and enterprise SSDs.

• Micron Technology has recently entered the trillion-dollar market cap club, becoming one of the most closely watched revaluation targets in the AI storage industry chain. According to StockAnalysis data, as of June 3, 2026, Micron's market cap was approximately $1.17 trillion.

• The core driver of the current storage track rally is not a rebound in the traditional DRAM cycle, but rather the market beginning to reprice the structural value within AI servers, High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), Long-Term Agreements (LTAs), and the tight supply-demand dynamics of the storage industry.

• Gate has officially launched stock trading, allowing users to directly trade stocks and ETFs from major securities markets using USDT on the platform. The stock contracts section has launched perpetual contracts, supporting USDT settlement and 1-20x leverage for two-way trading. Gate has also introduced leveraged ETF tokens, providing investors with long exposure to stocks.

• Micron's trillion-dollar market cap is not merely the result of a single earnings cycle, but a manifestation of the combined effects of the AI storage value re-rating, HBM product upgrades, long-term agreement mechanisms, and improved industry supply-demand dynamics.

1. The AI-Driven Storage Track

In the past, the storage industry was often viewed as a typical highly cyclical sector, with corporate earnings heavily dependent on supply-demand fluctuations and price elasticity. However, in the AI era, storage is gradually evolving from a supporting component in general hardware to a critical resource within computing infrastructure.

Large model training and inference require not only more powerful GPUs and interconnect capabilities but also storage systems with higher bandwidth, greater capacity, and lower latency. Whether it's HBM on the GPU side or DDR5 and enterprise SSDs on the server side, their importance is significantly rising. For cloud vendors and data center customers, storage is no longer just a cost item but a key variable affecting model training efficiency, inference throughput, and overall deployment costs.

The change brought by the expansion of AI applications is not just an increase in the shipment volume of storage chips, but more importantly, a rise in the proportion of high-end products. Compared to regular DRAM, HBM offers higher bandwidth, greater integration, and higher added value. Enterprise SSDs also benefit from increased data center workloads. As product portfolios shift towards high-performance products, the revenue structure, profit margin structure, and valuation framework of leading companies may change.

Unlike the traditional historical logic of "raising prices and expanding production", the supply release of high-end storage products like HBM is relatively limited due to constraints in manufacturing processes, yields, advanced packaging, and customer qualification cycles. Concurrently, core customers are more inclined to lock in capacity and some pricing through Long-Term Agreements (LTAs). This gives leading companies greater revenue visibility and bargaining power than in the past, and endows the current cycle with more distinct structural characteristics.

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MU), founded in 1978 and headquartered in Boise, Idaho, USA, is a leading global supplier of semiconductor memory and storage solutions. The company primarily designs, manufactures, and sells DRAM, NAND Flash, NOR Flash, High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), SSDs, and storage products for data centers, mobile devices, automotive, industrial, and consumer electronics. Using Micron as a case study is not intended to focus the article on a single stock, but because Micron, in its product spectrum, customer structure, earnings elasticity, and market pricing, relatively typically reflects the evolutionary direction of the AI storage track.

2. Micron Technology

In the global storage chip industry, Micron, along with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, is a major DRAM supplier and a significant player in the global NAND market. As demand for large model training and inference continues to grow, the demand from AI servers for storage products like High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), high-capacity DDR5, and enterprise SSDs is rapidly increasing. Storage chips are no longer just supporting components in general-purpose computing devices, but are gradually becoming one of the key bottlenecks in AI computing infrastructure. Particularly in GPU clusters, the bandwidth, capacity, and power consumption of HBM directly affect the performance release of AI chips. Consequently, Micron has been re-evaluated as a core supplier within the AI semiconductor supply chain. This report treats Micron Technology as a representative enterprise in the AI storage industry chain, analyzing its trillion-dollar market cap milestone, long-term agreements (LTAs), HBM growth, valuation restructuring, and the related stock trading support on Gate.

3. Fundamental Analysis and Investment Logic

According to Gate market data, as of June 3, 2026, Micron Technology's stock price was $1,056. Based on approximately 1.1 billion diluted shares outstanding, the company's total market capitalization is approximately $1.17 trillion. Over the past year, Micron Technology (MU) has shown a clear trend of initially oscillating upwards, followed by an accelerated breakout. The stock price started from around $110, strengthened steadily alongside the gradually rising expectations for AI storage demand, rising to over $400. After a period of consolidation, it entered a major upward leg driven by the explosion in HBM and AI data center demand. From May to June, it saw consecutive sharp rallies, peaking at $1,076, representing a cumulative increase of over 8x from its low of the year. Over the past year, Micron's stock price rose from approximately $110 to near $1,056, a cumulative gain exceeding 800%. The company's market capitalization correspondingly surpassed $1 trillion, reflecting the market's continuous revaluation of AI storage demand and HBM business prospects.

From a business structure perspective, Micron currently focuses on four main application areas: firstly, Data Center and Cloud Computing, including AI servers, enterprise servers, and networking equipment; secondly, Mobile Terminals, including smartphones and tablets; thirdly, Storage Business, including enterprise and client SSDs; and fourthly, Embedded Business, including automotive, industrial, and consumer electronics applications. With continuous expansion in AI data center capital expenditure, data center-related storage demand is becoming the fastest-growing and highest profit-elasticity business direction for Micron.

Micron's recent market cap breakthrough of one trillion dollars is not solely due to a rebound in the traditional storage cycle, but stems from the market repricing the company's strategic value within the AI infrastructure supply chain. FY2026 Q2 results showed record revenue, gross margin, EPS, and free cash flow, validating the profit inflection point driven by AI demand, tight industry supply, and high-end storage product upgrades.

3.1 AI Era: Storage Evolves from Supporting Component to Strategic Asset

In traditional computing architectures, storage chips were often viewed as components supporting CPUs and GPUs, with industry pricing primarily influenced by cyclical supply and demand. However, in the AI era, especially after the continuous expansion of large model training and inference scales, memory bandwidth, capacity, and energy efficiency have become key bottlenecks for AI system performance.

Micron explicitly stated in its FY2026 Q2 earnings release that the record Q2 performance reflects "the strategic value of memory in the AI era." Company CEO Sanjay Mehrotra mentioned that in the AI era, memory has become a strategic asset for customers. This indicates that Micron's management has repositioned the company from a traditional storage supplier to a core participant in AI computing infrastructure.

The rapid growth in demand from AI servers for HBM, high-capacity DRAM, DDR5, and enterprise SSDs has significantly increased the value contribution of storage products within the server BOM. As GPU cluster scales increase, customers are not only focused on chip computing power but also increasingly concerned about whether storage supply is stable, performance matches requirements, and deployment costs are controllable. This shift provides Micron with stronger bargaining power and higher earnings elasticity.

3.2 FY2026 Q2 Results Validate Demand Strength

Micron's FY2026 Q2 revenue reached $23.86 billion, a significant increase from $13.64 billion in the previous quarter and substantially higher than the $8.05 billion reported in the same period last year. The company's Non-GAAP net profit was $14.02 billion, Non-GAAP EPS reached $12.20, operating cash flow was $11.90 billion, and adjusted free cash flow reached $6.90 billion.

More critically, earnings quality improved simultaneously. FY2026 Q2 Non-GAAP gross margin reached 74.9%, a significant rise from 56.8% in the prior quarter and 37.9% in the year-ago quarter. Non-GAAP operating margin reached 69.0%, expanding substantially from 47.0% in the previous quarter and 24.9% last year.

This indicates that Micron's profit growth is not merely revenue-driven, but achieved through a simultaneous improvement in product pricing, product mix, and cost efficiency, resulting in a leap in profit margins. For a storage company, gross margin rising from the 30%-40% range to over 70% signifies a significant shift in industry supply-demand dynamics and the company's product portfolio.

3.3 Data Center and Cloud Business Become Core Growth Drivers

By business segment, Micron's FY2026 Q2 growth was highly concentrated in AI and data center-related areas.

The Cloud Memory Business Unit recorded revenue of $7.749 billion, with a gross margin of 74% and an operating margin of 66%. The Core Data Center Business Unit generated revenue of $5.687 billion, with a gross margin of 74% and an operating margin of 67%. Combined, these two businesses generated over $13.4 billion in revenue, establishing themselves as the company's most important growth engine.

This demonstrates that Micron's business focus is shifting from traditional consumer electronics cycles (PCs, phones) towards cloud computing, AI servers, and data centers. Compared to consumer electronics, AI data center customers are characterized by large capital expenditure scale, high product performance requirements, and a strong need for supply continuity. This environment is more conducive to generating premiums for high-end products and fostering long-term supply relationships.

3.4 HBM and High-End DRAM Drive Product Mix Upgrade

The product area where Micron benefits most significantly is HBM and high-end DRAM. HBM is a critical memory product for AI GPUs and accelerators, characterized by high bandwidth, high capacity, and high energy efficiency, with prices per GB and gross margins higher than standard DRAM.

UBS expects Micron's HBM ASP to grow approximately 50% year-over-year in 2027, driving continued expansion in HBM revenue. As AI chip platforms evolve, the demand for HBM capacity and bandwidth increases. Micron is well-positioned to capture a higher revenue share through HBM3E, subsequent HBM products, and advanced packaging capabilities.

The significance of the product mix upgrade is that Micron is no longer just following the fluctuations of industry DRAM average pricing but is gaining stronger pricing power through high-end products. As the HBM share grows, the company's overall gross margin and earnings stability are expected to improve.

2.5 Tight Industry Supply Strengthens Price Elasticity

Micron's strong performance in FY2026 Q2 also benefits from tight industry supply. The results are driven by a robust demand environment, constrained industry supply, and strong company execution. Some institutions expect the DRAM supply shortage to persist at least until Q2 2028, with NAND supply constraints lasting until Q4 2027. In an environment of restricted supply, DRAM and NAND prices have sustained support, allowing Micron's revenue and profit margins to remain elevated.

More importantly, this cycle differs from past cycles. Previously, storage manufacturers often rapidly increased production after price increases, ultimately leading to oversupply and price declines. However, the growth in demand from AI servers for high-end memory is relatively fast, while HBM capacity expansion is constrained by technology, yields, advanced packaging, and customer qualification cycles. Therefore, supply release is not easily able to catch up with demand quickly.

3.6 Long-Term Agreements (LTAs) Enhance Earnings Visibility

LTA stands for Long-Term Agreement. In the semiconductor memory industry, an LTA typically refers to an agreement between a supplier and a core customer outlining future supply arrangements, including purchase quantities, delivery schedules, product specifications, and, in some cases, pricing frameworks. In the past, procurement agreements in the storage industry were more often "volume-locked but not price-locked." Customers committed to a certain purchase volume in advance, giving suppliers some demand visibility, but prices would still fluctuate rapidly with DRAM and NAND market dynamics. Consequently, during industry downturns, sharp price declines would still directly impact the revenue and profits of storage companies like Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix.

LTAs represent another key logic driving Micron's valuation re-rating. These new-style LTAs not only lock in purchase volumes but also partially lock in prices, with terms potentially extending 3-5 years. This differs significantly from past procurement agreements that only locked volumes. For Micron, the value of LTAs lies in improving revenue visibility, reducing price volatility, and enhancing cross-cycle profitability. For cloud vendors and AI customers, LTAs secure future memory supply and partially lock in costs, avoiding being forced to accept higher prices during supply shortages. If LTAs are widely adopted, Micron's business model could gradually shift from a traditional cyclical commodity company to a semiconductor supplier with long-term order books, stable cash flows, and higher customer retention.

3.7 Earnings and Cash Flow Support Valuation Restructuring

Micron's adjusted free cash flow in FY2026 Q2 reached $6.9 billion, and the company's board of directors approved a 30% increase in the quarterly dividend. This indicates not only a substantial improvement in earnings but also a significant enhancement in cash flow quality. In capital markets, stable and substantial free cash flow typically supports higher valuations. Micron's valuation was historically low mainly due to market concerns about the sustainability of its earnings. Now, if AI demand, LTAs, and HBM product mix upgrades collectively reduce cyclical fluctuations, Micron has the conditions to shift its valuation from that of a traditional cyclical storage stock towards that of a core AI semiconductor asset.

4. Gate Stock Investment Products

The most closely watched US stock targets within the storage track. Gate has also enabled related stock trading services in its TradFi section. Users can participate in trading stocks and ETFs from major securities markets using USDT through a unified account system.

Unlike common market models involving stock tokenization or RWA mapping, Gate's stock service emphasizes market access capabilities and a compliant trading system. Gate Stock connects with licensed brokers to provide users with stock and ETF trading services; these are not on-chain mapped assets or tokenized stock derivatives. Users can buy, hold, and sell stock assets through their Gate account. Relevant holdings, profit/loss, fund flows, and corporate action information can be viewed and managed within the account.

In terms of asset coverage, Gate Stock currently supports over 10,000 stocks and ETFs, covering major securities markets and liquidity networks including NYSE, Nasdaq, NYSE Arca, NYSE American, and BATS. Gate Stock currently supports intraday trading and will gradually expand to 24/7 trading in the future, offering global users a more flexible gateway for US stock asset allocation.

In terms of product structure, the stock-related trading tools within Gate TradFi can be categorized into three types, using MU trading products as an example:

Among these, Gate Stock spot trading is independent of the traditional CFD system. Stock trading does not involve the funding rates found in perpetual contracts, nor the swap fees, overnight fees, or other holding costs potentially present in CFD products. Therefore, it is more suitable for users looking to allocate to US stock assets for the long term. In contrast, perpetual contracts and CFDs are more geared towards trading tools, suitable for directional trading or risk management regarding Micron's short-to-medium-term price movements.

Leveraging a unified crypto asset account system, Gate further integrates digital asset trading with stock investment scenarios. After completing KYC and meeting regional access requirements, users can access market data via the TradFi section of the Gate App to enter the stock zone. They can then participate in trading after transferring stablecoins through the trading or asset page. This signifies that the application scenario for USDT is extending from crypto asset trading to global stock asset allocation.

From an industry trend perspective, Gate's launch of stock trading services provides users with a unified entry point for trading both digital assets and traditional financial assets. For users focused on the AI semiconductor theme, the availability of real stocks, perpetual contracts, and CFDs allows for more flexible asset allocation and trading management around storage, AI, HBM, and semiconductor cycles all within the same platform.

5. Risk Warning

From a research perspective, assessing the future prosperity