Skip to navigationSkip to main contentSkip to right columnADVERTISEMENTAdam Spatacco, The Motley FoolSat, August 8, 2026 at 12:50 PM GMT+2 4 min readAlthough some skeptics frame demand for memory chips and the acceleration in capital expenditures (capex) by artificial intelligence (AI) hyperscalers as a bubble, recent remarks from Elon Musk cut through this narrative with unusual clarity.During the recent earnings call for Space Exploration Technologies, otherwise known as SpaceX, Musk said that "memory output is increasing by around 20% per year" while "demand is increasing by 200% a year, maybe higher."Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »This dynamic positions pure-play memory producers like Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) for outsize gains, making now a compelling entry point for investors who understand the forces of bringing next-generation AI applications into production amid the rising demand for the infrastructure that supports these developments.Space Exploration Technologies CEO Elon Musk. Image source: The White House.Memory specialists are in an advantageous position right nowIn a mature industry, 20% annual growth in output would normally be celebrated. The explosion of AI workloads has, however, shifted adoption of specialized chips into an exponential regime. Training large language models and inference deployments consumes ever-larger volumes of high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, with each new generation multiplying the requirement.When demand grows by an order of magnitude faster than supply, scarcity becomes inevitable. Under these conditions, basic economics suggests that prices rise and profit margins expand for the businesses that can deliver the resource in question.Micron focuses on advanced DRAM and HBM, placing it directly in the center of the bottleneck Musk cites. Smart investors have already recognized how rising capex is affecting Micron, as the company's pricing power is directly fueling improved profitability and helping fund aggressive manufacturing scale.MU Revenue (TTM) data by YChartsWhy now is the time to buy Micron stockThe stock market often overreacts to short-term signals even when longer-term fundamentals remain intact. Micron stock reached an all-time high in late June, only to sell off considerably shortly after. Micron's decline reflects both a familiar pattern of profit-taking after a strong rally and ongoing skepticism surrounding AI infrastructure spending.Musk's observation about memory prices reframes Micron's decline as noise rather than a signal that shares should continue to plummet. If memory remains the binding constraint for data center build-outs, this would imply Micron is in the early phase of capacity expansion rather than the late phase of excess supply. Against this backdrop, capital will continue to flow toward the memory bottleneck, benefiting the companies that produce it.Terms and Privacy PolicyEU DSA contactPrivacy & Cookie SettingsMore Info