Micron Technology indicated on Wednesday that it has already begun volume shipments of its HBM4 high-bandwidth memory in the first quarter, a schedule the company said is one quarter earlier than the timing disclosed during its December earnings call. The update came during a presentation at Wolfe Research’s Autos/Semis conference, where members of Micron’s leadership team addressed investor and analyst questions.
Chief Financial Officer Mark Murphy was among the executives who pushed back on recent reporting that raised technical concerns about the HBM4 product. Micron said it remains confident in HBM4 performance, quality and reliability, and that yields are tracking to plan. The company also stated that HBM4 capacity is fully allocated for calendar year 2026.
Management framed the business environment as stronger than it was in December, noting that demand has risen to levels that exceed the firm’s ability to supply. The company described a resulting tightness in the market that it expects will persist beyond 2026. Executives further reported progress on multi-year agreements with identified customers and reiterated expectations for ongoing margin expansion.
Micron provided specific manufacturing and capacity updates to accompany its product and demand commentary. The company said it has broken ground on new fabrication projects in New York and Singapore. It expects the Idaho facility to begin contributing to supply in the second half of 2027, while the Singapore fab is targeted to start NAND production in the second half of 2028.
Through the presentation, Micron sought to clarify the status of HBM4 shipments and production performance, characterizing some earlier media reporting on the product as inaccurate. The company emphasized that the product is sold out for 2026 and that internal metrics on yield are consistent with expectations.
Investors and market participants heard three consistent themes from Micron’s remarks: accelerated HBM4 shipment timing, stronger demand relative to supply, and continued capital deployment into fabs with multi-year horizons for production ramping.
Key points
- Micron confirmed volume shipments of HBM4 began in Q1, ahead of the December schedule - impacts the semiconductor memory market and related suppliers.
- Management denied reported technical issues, stating HBM4 quality, reliability and yields are on track and product is sold out for 2026 - relevant to customers and downstream OEMs.
- Company detailed fabrication expansion timelines: Idaho expected to add supply in 2H 2027, Singapore slated for NAND production in 2H 2028 - relevant to capital investment and manufacturing sectors.
Risks and uncertainties
- Reported technical concerns have been labeled inaccurate by Micron, but earlier coverage created uncertainty around product perception - a reputational and market-risk factor for the semiconductor sector.
- Fab construction and ramp timing remain multi-year projects; the planned start dates for Idaho and Singapore fabs indicate exposure to execution and schedule risk that could affect supply projections.
- Progress on multi-year customer agreements was described as "good," which implies uncertainty until contracts are finalized and volumes are secured - affecting revenue and margin outlooks.