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國際時事跟讀 Ep. L236: Memory Boom: Micron Wins, Apple Pays
Highlights 主題摘要
- Memory prices have surged throughout 2026 as AI demand swallows global chip supply, forcing device makers to raise prices.
- Micron's record quarter sparked a public clash with Apple over who is really to blame for the shortage.
- Samsung and SK Hynix warn the squeeze will run through 2027, with the supply gap set to widen.
Memory prices have surged sharply throughout 2026. Research firm TrendForce reported that DRAM contract prices climbed roughly 90 percent quarter-over-quarter in the first quarter alone, with consumer modules such as LPDDR5X rising nearly 89 percent in the second. The driver is not a supply disruption but a deliberate reallocation of capacity: memory makers are prioritizing high-margin AI products, leaving conventional DRAM structurally undersupplied even as total industry revenue climbs to record levels.
2026年以來，記憶體價格漲勢兇猛。研究機構TrendForce指出，光是第一季，DRAM合約價就較前一季上漲約90%，LPDDR5X等消費端模組到了第二季也漲了近89%。推升價格的主因並非供應斷鏈，而是廠商刻意調配產能：記憶體業者把產能優先留給毛利較高的AI產品，所以即便整體產業營收衝上新高，一般DRAM仍陷入結構性供給不足。
That imbalance has turned into a windfall for Micron Technology, one of the world's three dominant memory suppliers. The company's fiscal third-quarter revenue, released in late June, more than quadrupled year-over-year to $41.46 billion, while gross margin jumped to 84.9 percent from 39 percent a year earlier. Net income reached $28.24 billion, against just $1.89 billion in the same quarter last year. Shares surged roughly 15 percent in after-hours trading, briefly lifting Micron's market value above both Meta and Tesla, while management guided for about $50 billion in revenue next quarter, citing sold-out high-bandwidth memory.
這樣的供需失衡，反倒讓全球三大記憶體供應商之一的美光大幅進帳。美光六月下旬公布財報，第三會計季營收年增逾四倍，達414.6億美元，毛利率也從一年前的39%跳升至84.9%。淨利達282.4億美元，去年同期僅18.9億美元。財報一出，美光股價在盤後交易一度大漲約15%，市值短暫超車Meta與特斯拉；公司並看好下一季營收上看500億美元，並提到高頻寬記憶體（HBM）早已被搶購一空。
The earnings beat landed hours after Apple announced price increases across its Mac, iPad, Apple TV, HomePod, and Vision Pro lines, a move that sent its stock down more than 6 percent and erased roughly $265 billion in market value. Speaking to The Wall Street Journal after Micron's results, chief business officer Sumit Sadana offered a pointed response. Without naming Apple directly, he suggested that certain large customers had exploited the industry's 2023 downturn to demand rock-bottom prices, straining supplier margins at the exact moment capital was needed to expand capacity. "A lot of the industry investments got shut down in 2023 because of really poor pricing and really poor margins," he said.
這份亮眼財報出爐前幾個小時，蘋果才剛宣布Mac、iPad、Apple TV、HomePod與Vision Pro全線調漲，導致股價重挫逾6%，市值蒸發約2650億美元。美光財報公布後，商務長薩達納接受《華爾街日報》採訪時，做出一番語帶機鋒的回應。他沒有直接點名蘋果，卻暗指某些大客戶趁2023年產業低谷壓低採購價，正好在廠商最需要資金擴產的時候，壓縮了供應商的利潤。他說：「2023年產業內許多投資之所以喊停，就是因為價格與利潤都太差。」
The dispute over blame does little to change where the market is headed. Samsung's memory division warned in late April that the supply gap would widen further through 2027, a view echoed by SK Hynix days earlier. Together with Micron, the two Korean firms control more than 90 percent of the global DRAM market. TrendForce projects total memory revenue will grow from $551.6 billion in 2026 to $842.7 billion in 2027, suggesting the current tightness has further to run.
不管這場責任歸屬怎麼吵，都改不了市場的大方向。三星記憶體部門四月底就示警，供需缺口到2027年只會更大，SK海力士稍早也表達相同看法。連同美光在內，這幾家業者合計掌握全球九成以上的DRAM市場。TrendForce預估，整體記憶體市場營收會從2026年的5516億美元，成長到2027年的8427億美元，顯示這波供給吃緊將會延續下去。
Keyword Drills 關鍵字
- Quarter-over-quarter [adverb phrase, compared with the previous three-month period]: Revenue rose fifteen percent quarter-over-quarter.
- Windfall [noun, a large unexpected gain or profit]: The tax refund was a nice windfall.
- After-hours trading [noun phrase, buying and selling of stocks after the market closes]: The shares jumped in after-hours trading.
- Downturn [noun, a period of reduced economic activity]: Many firms cut jobs during the downturn.
- Rock-bottom [adjective, at the lowest possible level]: They sold the tickets at rock-bottom prices.
Reference article:
1. https://investors.micron.com/news-releases/news-release-details/micron-technology-inc-reports-record-results-third-quarter
2. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/24/micron-mu-earnings-report-q3-2026.html
3. https://9to5mac.com/2026/06/25/micron-exec-suggests-apples-aggressive-purchasing-tactics-helped-fuel-memory-shortage/
4. https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/samsung-and-sk-hynix-warn-ai-driven-memory-shortages-could-last-until-2027-and-beyond-as-hbm-demand-explodes-customers-already-reserving-supply-years-ahead-while-the-wider-dram-market-begins-to-tighten
5. https://www.tweaktown.com/news/112358/dram-prices-surged-by-up-to-89-percent-in-q2-2026-destroying-the-consumer-segment/index.html
