68% of AI Hyperscaler CapEx Could Go to Memory in 2027: Why Micron Matters

Memory chips are on track to swallow more than two-thirds of what the world’s biggest cloud companies spend on AI hardware. Yet, Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) trades 26% below the record it set in June. The distance between them is what the market is missing.

According to market research firm TrendForce, dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and NAND flash storage will together account for 68% of total capital expenditure at the nine largest cloud service providers in 2027.

That share is 47% this year. And the base is not small.

TrendForce, in an Aug. 25 research note, put combined spending by those nine companies at:

• $272 billion in 2024
• $466 billion in 2025
• $922 billion this year and
• $1.383 trillion in 2027.

Applying the 68% share to that forecast implies roughly $940 billion aimed at memory in a single year.

Why The Share Keeps Rising

The share is climbing because prices are climbing, not only because servers are multiplying.

Server DRAM contract prices rose a cumulative 64% in the second half of 2025, and TrendForce expects roughly 270% more across 2026.

Enterprise solid-state drive prices, the NAND side of the same trade, rose about 35% in the second half of 2025 and are projected to gain 235% this year.

High-bandwidth memory, the stacked DRAM that sits beside an artificial-intelligence accelerator and feeds it data, could add another 70% to 140% in 2027.

This is where Micron, as well as peers like SK Hynix Inc. (NASDAQ:SKHY) and Samsung, comes into play.

SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ:SNDK) is another way to gain exposure to the storage side of the AI infrastructure buildout.

The Problem Hiding in the Same Forecast

When memory absorbs 68% of a budget, it becomes the line item a buyer attacks.

TrendForce says cloud providers could respond by cutting memory capacity per system, reworking RDIMM configurations, reducing the HBM built into future AI chips, or shifting toward custom AI chips with the model architecture hardwired into the silicon.

Higher memory costs also hand suppliers such as Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) justification to raise their own prices, which forces cloud budgets higher again.

Where The Street Sits

Benzinga Analyst Ratings shows a consensus Buy on Micron from 27 analysts, with an average price target of $1,303. That sits roughly 40% above Tuesday’s close of $932.97. Twenty-six of the 27 rate it Buy.

Recent flow is mixed rather than uniformly bullish. Mizuho and Citigroup both trimmed targets in August, while New Street Research upgraded the stock to Buy on Aug. 14. The Street high of $2,000, set by Cantor Fitzgerald and Barclays in late June, has not been matched since.

Micron has already more than tripled this year and crossed a $1 trillion market value.

Date	Firm	Price Target	Action	Rating
Aug 25, 2026	Mizuho	$1,375 → $1,300	PT Cut	Outperform
Aug 14, 2026	New Street Research	$1,250	Upgrade	Neutral → Buy
Aug 7, 2026	Citigroup	$1,400 → $1,150	PT Cut	Buy
Jul 14, 2026	Keybanc	$1,600 → $1,750	PT Raise	Overweight
Jun 29, 2026	Cantor Fitzgerald	$1,500 → $2,000	PT Raise	Overweight
Jun 25, 2026	Barclays	$1,175 → $2,000	PT Raise	Overweight

Source: Benzinga Analyst Ratings