Memory Is the New ‘King’ of Chips, Taking Over 50% of Semiconductor Revenue, Susquehanna Says

Memory Is the New ‘King’ of Chips, Taking Over 50% of Semiconductor Revenue, Susquehanna Says

Daragh Thomas

Wed, September 9, 2026 at 5:42 PM GMT+3 2 min read

• NVDA -0.54%
• MU +2.49%

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Memory chips now account for 50%-55% of semiconductor industry revenue, up from roughly 20%-30% historically, according to Susquehanna analyst Mehdi Hosseini.

Hosseini said Wednesday that memory has become the industry's new "king" as AI data centers demand more of it. He called memory the "primary driver" of semiconductor revenue growth, with total industry revenue on track to reach roughly $1.5 trillion this year.

AI Is Rewriting the Chip Spending Mix

The AI spending boom is no longer just about processors from Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA). Data centers also need huge amounts of DRAM to feed those chips with data and NAND to store it.

Research firm TrendForce says supply is still struggling to keep up. It expects DRAM and NAND to absorb 47% of major cloud providers' total capital spending this year, rising to 68% in 2027.

That helps explain why memory's share of the chip industry has surged. Market-research firm Omdia separately expects memory to account for more than half of total semiconductor revenue in 2026.

Micron Rides the Memory Boom

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) is one of the clearest U.S.-listed beneficiaries.

Global DRAM revenue jumped 59.5% sequentially to $154.73 billion in the calendar second quarter, according to TrendForce. Micron's DRAM revenue rose 65.5% to $36 billion, giving it a 23.3% market share.

Micron has also begun high-volume shipments of HBM4, the high-bandwidth memory used alongside advanced AI processors.

CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said last month there is "no AI without memory," describing memory as the "strategic infrastructure of the AI era."

Can Memory Stay King?

Memory has historically been highly cyclical, with high prices encouraging new supply that can eventually push prices lower. Competition is also increasing: Market-research firm Counterpoint Research estimates Chinese rival CXMT captured 10% of global DRAM revenue in the second quarter, up from 4% a year earlier.

Prediction traders still see Nvidia as the defining corporate winner from AI. Polymarket gives Nvidia a 79% chance of ending 2026 as the world's largest company in a market with about $6.95 million traded.

Hosseini's thesis suggests more of the spending underneath that Nvidia-led boom is flowing to memory suppliers. For Micron, the question is whether that shift can outlast the industry's old boom-and-bust cycle.

Image: Shutterstock

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This article Memory Is the New 'King' of Chips, Taking Over 50% of Semiconductor Revenue, Susquehanna Says originally appeared on Benzinga.com

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