Sean D. Emory
Founding Partner & CIO of Avory & Co., Avory Foundational ETF (AVRY)
Memory makers' gross profit may barely grow even if revenue explodes, because today's roughly 85% gross margins are likely to normalize. Starting from $100 of revenue at an 85% margin, tripling revenue lifts gross profit just 5.9% at a 30% margin and 76.5% at 50%; Nomura forecasts only a doubling of revenue from 2026 to 2030. Owning them means either getting off the train before others or believing margins will never fall to 50% or below. x.comÂ
Inflation, rising rates, Chinese competition and rising AI-related financial costs are pressuring the memory market. Micron, Samsung and SK hynix look exposed; waiting for the cycle to turn. x.com x.comÂ
SK hynix and other Korean memory makers' aggressive price hikes invite customers to optimize memory use, undermining the case for 90% margins despite a long-term shortage. Memory is the only layer raising cost per token. Elon Musk described Micron's future pricing as reasonable and other suppliers' as extortionate, warning that today's customers would not forget; exorbitant long-term contracts compound that risk. x.com x.comÂ
Micron and SK hynix pricing in a memory shortage past 2030 extends the memory-cycle case beyond the Street's 2028 expectation. SK hynix's record quarter adds evidence: per Wall St Engine, revenue rose 328% to $78.9B, operating profit rose 632% to $62.8B, and operating margin hit 80%. Agentic and physical AI could add demand as they roll out. x.com x.comÂ
Memory makers face an inventory overhang because upcycle shipments moved stock to module makers, distributors and customers rather than clearing it. That transfer showed up in reported earnings. Prices have plunged since the October holiday; once expectations of further increases disappear and demand sentiment softens, high-priced inventory will surface and selling will be much faster than the earlier restocking. x.com x.comÂ
Memory makers' pricing power looks unsustainable because betting on a long-term bottleneck is betting against human ingenuity. Memory players are squeezing customers in a way ASML and TSMC historically chose not to; Micron may have the right to get back at Apple, but that hurts long-term relationships, and disregarding the non-AI business could come back to bite. Even if inference demand drives memory prices, as @bnemethbrown argues, whether regular DRAM gets commoditized is still open. x.com … Show more
SK hynix's strong pricing and secured capacity could push memory stocks higher. Per Wall St Engine, its Q3 DRAM ASP rose by a high-20s percentage quarter over quarter, while long-term agreements cover more than half of its 2027-28 capacity. Those figures support the memory upcycle. x.comÂ
Memory prices look to be at their peak for SK hynix and Micron as Chinese commoditization catches up. CXMT has made HBM3E and is now only one generation from HBM4, so China will scale its own DRAM and HBM production. Over several years, supply and innovation have always caught up with demand in past cycles, and US work on memory architectures that work around HBM or use less of it is already well underway. That contradicts @jukan05's reading that CXMT's progress tightens commodity DRAM. x.com … Show more
Memory stocks face huge downside because memory is a commodity, and today's undersupply will turn to oversupply as capex rises. Demand is inelastic, so suppliers have pricing power only while undersupplied; Samsung, SK hynix and Micron are all raising capex, and China's big DRAM expansion will ease shortages across the chain. Stocks peak before financials weaken, DRAM prices are already falling, and customers are optimizing memory use, so low P/Es offer no protection. x.comÂ
Rising memory contract prices strengthen the case for memory stocks still far below their highs. JPMorgan forecasts Q4 DRAM prices up 13% and NAND up 18%; Micron is 28% below its 52-week high, Seagate 44%, Sandisk 47% and Western Digital 55%. x.comÂ
Micron cannot scale HBM without crushing its DRAM margins, which is why memory stocks are lagging despite a severe shortage. @CKCapitalxx calls the shortage structural, citing Goldman's view that it is the worst in 15 years and Micron having sold out its entire 2026 production. x.comÂ