Third Quarter Revenue Reaches 12 Trillion Won, Surpassing Market Expectations
HBM Sales Up 50% from Previous Quarter
"Strong HBM Demand Driven by AI Boom"
Continued Investment in HBM... Fierce HBM4 Competition Begins
Micron Technology, often referred to as a "barometer" for gauging the performance of semiconductor companies due to its rapid earnings announcements, reported results for the third quarter of this year (February to May) that exceeded market expectations. As a result, analysts say that the semiconductor industry, especially the memory sector, is experiencing a positive momentum. There is also a strong possibility that Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, which are scheduled to announce their results next month, will post strong performances as well.
Micron Technology
According to foreign media and industry sources on June 25 (local time), US-based semiconductor company Micron announced that it recorded $9.3 billion (approximately 12.6619 trillion won) in revenue and $1.91 in earnings per share for the third quarter of this year. These figures significantly surpassed market expectations of $8.87 billion in revenue and $1.60 in earnings per share. Revenue increased by as much as 37% compared to the same period last year.
The main driver behind Micron's strong performance this quarter is widely attributed to a surge in demand for high bandwidth memory (HBM). Detailed earnings results also showed that HBM sales increased by about 50% compared to the previous quarter. The company explained during its post-earnings briefing that "the increase in HBM demand was largely driven by data center sales and the artificial intelligence (AI) boom."
Micron is one of the top three global suppliers leading the HBM market, alongside SK hynix and Samsung Electronics. The company supplies memory chips equipped with HBM to major global big tech companies such as NVIDIA and AMD. HBM is priced higher than other memory products, resulting in greater profitability. The recent strategic shift by Micron to focus its business on HBM is seen as a key factor reflected in this quarter's results.
Having achieved strong results through HBM, Micron is expected to continue strengthening its capabilities and dedicating its resources to this product. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra stated, "We are making prudent investments based on our technological leadership and manufacturing capabilities to respond to the increasing AI-centric demand for memory." This indicates that HBM is the memory product in the spotlight for the AI market, and Micron intends to invest even more heavily in its HBM business.
Going forward, Micron is expected to engage in fierce competition with SK hynix and Samsung Electronics in the next-generation HBM4 market. On June 11, Micron announced that it had supplied HBM4 samples to major customers. The samples are 12-stack products with a capacity of 36 gigabytes (GB), and Micron explained that performance has improved by more than 60% compared to the previous HBM3E. Earlier, in March, SK hynix became the first in the world to deliver HBM4 samples to customers. Three months later, with Micron's sample shipments, competition in the HBM4 market has officially begun. Samsung Electronics is also ramping up its HBM4 development, and industry observers predict that competition in the HBM4 space will intensify in the second half of the year.
Micron stated, "HBM4 samples have been provided to multiple customers and are currently undergoing satisfactory evaluations," adding, "Based on our well-validated 1b (fifth-generation 10-nanometer class) DRAM, HBM4 offers advantages in both performance and power efficiency."
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