Skip to navigationSkip to main contentSkip to right columnRich DupreySun, July 5, 2026 at 6:13 PM GMT+2 5 min readQuick ReadSK hynix launches on Nasdaq July 10 (SKHY) as the dominant HBM supplier with 58% global market share, dwarfing Micron's 21%.Bernstein projects SK hynix will reach 91% gross margins in Q2 2026, with operating margins of 70 to 80% versus Micron's 50 to 55%.Hyperscalers will spend over $700 billion on AI infrastructure this year, keeping HBM demand elevated and Micron's supply already sold out through year-end.Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Micron Technology didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.Artificial intelligence has created no shortage of investment opportunities, but it has also exposed one bottleneck after another. First it was GPUs. Then networking. Then power generation. Today, memory has become one of the industry's biggest constraints. TechAnimationStock / Shutterstock.comEvery advanced AI model requires enormous amounts of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and DRAM to keep increasingly powerful chips fed with data. As hyperscalers continue spending hundreds of billions of dollars on AI infrastructure, memory suppliers have become just as essential as chip designers. For investors, that changes where the next wave of profits may come from -- and perhaps which stock deserves a closer look.Memory Has Become the AI Boom's New BottleneckFor most U.S. investors, Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) has been the obvious way to invest in the AI memory shortage. The strategy has worked remarkably well.Micron shares have climbed 141% year to date, are up roughly 700% over the past year, and have gained approximately 1,440% during the past three years as demand for HBM exploded. In comparison, Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) is up 4.5% in 2026, 24% over the last 12%, and 360% since July 2023.Those returns reflect a simple reality: every AI accelerator from companies like Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD), and custom cloud chips requires massive amounts of premium memory. And the shortage isn't disappearing anytime soon.Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Micron Technology didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.Micron's HBM production is sold out through the end of the year, while management continues expanding manufacturing capacity. Meanwhile, the world's four largest hyperscalers are expected to spend more than $700 billion on AI infrastructure this year alone, ensuring demand remains elevated for the components powering those systems.This Stock Has the Strongest Memory BusinessTerms and Privacy PolicyEU DSA contactPrivacy & Cookie SettingsMore Info