Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of Micron Technology, pointed out that the current imbalance between supply and demand for memory chips is not solely caused by manufacturers. Previously, customers' significant price cuts resulted in insufficient industry capacity investment, failing to meet the demand driven by the boom in the artificial intelligence (AI) industry. In 2023, memory chip prices fell to one-third of their previous levels, plunging suppliers like Micron into negative gross margin territory. Micron's gross margin for fiscal year 2023 was -7.3%, and capital expenditures were reduced to $7.7 billion. Although the company continued to invest, it was a significant cut from the previous year. With the steady growth in demand for memory chips driven by AI, the momentum will become more evident in 2025, reaching new heights in 2026. Micron's stock price surged by over 240% in the second quarter of this year, with its market value increasing by over $920 billion to approximately $1.3 trillion. Since building new semiconductor manufacturing plants takes several years and the next-generation manufacturing processes are more complex, the supply shortage may persist beyond 2027. Micron is investing approximately $200 billion in manufacturing and research and development, including the construction of new memory manufacturing plants in Boise, Idaho, and Syracuse, New York. The Boise project is progressing the fastest, with the first batch of chips set to hit the market by the middle of next year, followed by a gradual increase in production. The final plan is to build two manufacturing plants. Additionally, sectors outside the semiconductor industry have also been affected by the shortage. Apple raised the prices of several Mac and iPad models last week, with CEO Tim Cook stating that the soaring costs of memory and storage are inevitable, highlighting how AI-driven demand has pushed up the cost of components for consumer electronics.