Micron Technology (MU +6.65%) continues to be one of the hottest stocks on the market in 2026, jumping an incredible 162% as of this writing. Investors have been buying its shares hand over fist to capitalize on strong memory demand that continues to outpace supply.
What's more, the good news just keeps flowing in for Micron stock investors. Tom's Hardware reports that contract prices for dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) will increase by 58% to 63% in the current quarter. The full-year forecast is also sunny, with market research firm Gartner anticipating a 125% jump in DRAM prices for the full year.
This favorable pricing environment will be a huge tailwind for Micron. In fact, it won't be surprising to see this AI stock reaching the $2,000 mark in a year. Let's see why that may be the case.
Image source: Micron Technology.
Booming AI memory demand should ensure that the supply shortage continues
AI chip designers are packing in larger high-bandwidth memory (HBM) into their AI accelerators to ensure bottlenecks do not bog down their chips. HBM's higher bandwidth, greater power efficiency, and lower real estate requirements compared to traditional DRAM explain why HBM demand has taken off.
NASDAQ: MU
Key Data Points
Even efficiency-focused custom AI processors are equipping large amounts of HBM to improve computing performance and reduce power consumption. Counterpoint Research estimates that HBM demand from custom AI processors could increase by a whopping 35x between 2024 and 2028. An important point worth noting here is that each gigabyte of HBM consumes three times the wafer capacity of traditional DRAM chips.
This tells us why memory industry leaders Samsung and SK Hynix expect the shortage to last at least until the end of 2027. The shortage could extend beyond that, as SK Hynix predicts that the HBM market could clock annual growth of 30% through 2030. Another important point is that the additional supply needed to meet the booming demand will take time to come online.
For example, Micron began construction of an advanced facility in Singapore earlier this year. However, that facility will start volume production only in the second half of 2028. What's more, this new facility may take another eight years to reach its full production potential. As such, it is easy to see why there has been a significant spike in the potential earnings per share that Micron is poised to deliver.
Data by YCharts
Why Micron stock could easily hit $2,000 in the coming year
Micron's adjusted earnings jumped by 7.8x year over year in the second quarter of fiscal 2026 (which ended on Feb. 26). We have seen that analysts are anticipating $58.11 in earnings per share in the current fiscal year (which will end in August 2026). That would be an exponential jump over Micron's fiscal 2025 earnings of $8.29 per share.
The chart above also shows that Micron's earnings per share could increase to $101.78 in fiscal 2027 (which ends in August 2027). That's a potential jump of 75% from this year's estimated earnings. However, this AI stock could do better than that, as favorable memory market dynamics could drive stronger price increases.
But even if Micron's earnings reach $101.78 per share in the next fiscal year and it trades at 22 times earnings at that time (in line with the S&P 500 index's forward earnings multiple), its stock price could jump to $2,239. So, it isn't too late for investors to buy Micron stock, as it trades at a really attractive 7.6 times forward earnings, especially considering it could nearly triple in the coming year.
