{"text":[[{"start":8.85,"text":"Chip giant Micron has reported a nearly 15-fold surge in quarterly profits as companies rush to secure memory chips for data centres at the heart of the AI boom, sending shares in the $1.3tn group rallying sharply."}],[{"start":23.7,"text":"The US tech company said its net income jumped to $28.2bn in its fiscal quarter to May 28 from $1.9bn in the same period a year earlier, exceeding Wall Street forecasts by about $4bn as its profit margins widened. "}],[{"start":41.3,"text":"Micron’s blockbuster quarterly results underscore how a shortage of memory chips that are widely used in servers that train and host leading AI models has sent prices for the products soaring. "}],[{"start":52.599999999999994,"text":"The group said its revenues jumped almost 350 per cent to $41.5bn in the May quarter, while it forecast current quarter sales of about $50bn, far above analysts’ expectations in a Visible Alpha poll of $43.7bn. "}],[{"start":69.44999999999999,"text":"The upbeat results sent Micron’s shares rising 14 per cent in after-hours trading in New York, pushing its market value to about $1.3tn. Futures tracking the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index jumped 2 per cent following the release of Micron’s results. "}],[{"start":86.04999999999998,"text":"The moves come after a period of sustained volatility in the shares of chipmakers, which have been hit with volatility in recent weeks after leading Wall Street stocks higher for much of 2026."}],[{"start":98.39999999999998,"text":"Memory prices have risen sharply this year as chips have become a bottleneck in building AI data centres. Chips from the groups such as Nvidia and AMD require high-bandwidth memory produced by a few companies, including Micron, in order to handle the demanding workloads required to train and run leading AI models. "}],[{"start":117.89999999999998,"text":"In a reflection of the high premiums that Micron is able to charge in a global supply shortage, its adjusted gross margin soared to 84.9 per cent in the May quarter compared with 39 per cent a year ago. Micron is projecting those margins to rise further during the current quarter to 86 per cent, about a percentage point higher than what analysts had forecast."}],[{"start":140.99999999999997,"text":"“Nvidia realised their AI moment a few years ago [with its graphics processing units] . . . now, memory has never been such a valuable part of the computing stack,” said Manish Bhatia, Micron executive vice-president of global operations."}],[{"start":156.29999999999998,"text":"In a shift in how memory supply contracts have historically been negotiated, Micron has secured 16 long-term “strategic agreements” with some of its largest customers. For the first time, they include billions of dollars in upfront payments to secure supply. "}],[{"start":171.99999999999997,"text":"These payments, which span both AI data centre and consumer electronics clients, locked in contracts for periods of three to five years and were treated as deposits and refunded over time, Bhatia explained. It allowed Micron to have greater visibility into demand over time, he said."}],[{"start":189.14999999999998,"text":"The US chipmaker, which along with Korea’s SK Hynix and Samsung dominates the global memory chip market, has emerged as one of the chief beneficiaries of a wave of investment in AI infrastructure. Four Big Tech companies — Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet — are set to collectively spend $725bn on AI infrastructure this year. "}],[{"start":213.45,"text":"SK Hynix on Wednesday announced it was looking to raise $29bn in a US listing. All three chipmakers have topped a $1tn market capitalisation this year."}],[{"start":224.25,"text":"“The results should help reset the gloom that dragged down South Korean chip peers earlier in the week,” said Dec Mullarkey, managing director at asset management firm SLC Management. “This strong Micron showing should steady the broader hardware sector outlook.” "}],[{"start":240.75,"text":"The Philadelphia semiconductor index, which tracks 30 of the world’s biggest US-listed chip manufacturers, is up almost 90 per cent since the start of 2026 despite the recent wobbles "}],[{"start":252.3,"text":"The memory shortage has had a knock-on effect for more traditional consumer chips as the leading manufacturers focus new production lines on advanced high-bandwidth memory for data centres."}],[{"start":263.6,"text":"Last week, Apple chief executive Tim Cook warned that the generational shortage would force the company to raise the prices of its products."}],[{"start":271.35,"text":"Micron has been allocated more than $6bn in direct US government manufacturing grants under the 2022 Chips Act to support its investment in new manufacturing facilities. "}],[{"start":282.90000000000003,"text":"Last month it hosted commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and other top US officials at an event in Virginia as it started building some of its most advanced memory chips at its facility in Manassas."}],[{"start":304.20000000000005,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1782350620_8577.mp3"}