The global AI infrastructure construction boom is causing shortages of key inputs such as storage chips. Micron Technology's exit will have a significant impact on the consumer storage market.

Some analysis indicates that the global AI infrastructure construction boom is causing a shortage of key inputs such as storage chips. A few companies have committed to investing billions of dollars in building large data centers in the upcoming years, leading to a global shortage of storage supplies. Major players like NVIDIA and AMD produce AI chips that require a large amount of the most advanced storage chips. For example, the current generation NVIDIA GB200 chip is equipped with 192GB of memory per graphics processor, Google's latest AI chip Ironwood TPU requires 192GB of high-bandwidth memory, and AMD's current AI chip MI350 is equipped with 288GB of high-bandwidth memory. In comparison, the storage specifications and quantities used in phones and computers are much lower - many laptops are only equipped with 16GB of memory. This difference in demand is prompting giants like Micron Technology to tilt their limited production capacity towards the more profitable AI data center market. Micron Technology's exit will have a significant impact on the consumer storage market. According to research firm TrendForce's latest data, Micron Technology holds a 13% market share in the NAND flash memory field used in solid-state drives. In the DRAM market, Micron Technology is the third-largest supplier, and its exit has caused PC assemblers to lose the trusted brand option of Intel. Reports indicate that Samsung and SK Hynix are also prioritizing profitability over risky capacity expansion. With the global memory supply chain remaining tight and advanced high-bandwidth storage memory used from smartphone flash chips to AI data centers facing supply shortages, Micron Technology's exit may further exacerbate supply pressure in the consumer market.