Cheap RAM is not coming back before 2028, and Micron says robots are next
Key takeaways
- Micron expects memory supply to be much tighter in 2027 and 2028 than it was in 2026.
- The company says it has no line of sight to when supply and demand will balance again.
- Micron says humanoid robots could need 200GB+ of DRAM and multiple terabytes of storage each.
- If you need RAM in the next year, waiting for a price drop is a weak plan.
"Much tighter in calendar 2027 and 2028 than they were in 2026." That is how Micron, one of the three big memory makers, described memory and storage supply in the guidance attached to its fiscal Q4 2026 results, as TechRadar reports. If you have been waiting out the RAM shortage, 2028 is now the earliest year worth circling.
What Micron said about the RAM shortage
Two lines in the guidance do most of the work. The first is the timeline above. The second is blunter: even with extra cleanroom space planned across the industry, and with customers asking for more supply, Micron says it has no "line of sight" to when supply and demand will balance again.
In plain terms, the company that makes the chips cannot see the end of the shortage. That carries more weight than an analyst forecast, because Micron's order book is where demand actually shows up. ITdaily reads it the same way, with shortages persisting through 2028.
AI data centres are still the main cause. They buy huge volumes of high-bandwidth memory and server DRAM, and every wafer that goes into an AI accelerator is one that never becomes a laptop stick or a phone chip. We covered the knock-on effect for storage in RAM and SSD prices heading into 2027.
Why robots could need 200GB of RAM each
The newer part of Micron's message is about what comes after the data centre boom. The company says humanoid robots "could need 200GB+ of DRAM and multiple terabytes of storage per unit", and that several physical AI customers are already sampling next-generation products. It expects robots to be a significant driver of memory demand by the end of the decade.
For scale, 200GB is about six times the 32GB a decent gaming PC ships with today. A robot that runs its vision, planning and language models on board, rather than streaming everything to the cloud, needs that memory locally. Multiply by a production line of robots and you get a second wave of demand that could arrive just as the first one eases. Factory humanoids are already moving past pilots, as the Figure 02 retirement at BMW showed.
One caveat belongs next to that number. TechRadar's own analysis points out that Micron has every reason to talk up future demand, since it helps the investment case. The robot figure is a seller's forecast, not a measured trend.
What this means if you are buying RAM
So: if you need memory for a build or upgrade in the next 12 months, Micron's guidance gives you no reason to wait for prices to fall. Buy what you need now rather than what you might want in three years, and size it properly with our guide to how much RAM you actually need in 2026.
For most desktop builds, 32GB of DDR5 is still the sensible floor. The Corsair Vengeance DDR5 32GB kit is a common pick, and it is worth checking current pricing on Amazon because it has moved a lot this year.
What to watch
Samsung and SK Hynix report their own quarterly results in the coming weeks. If either repeats Micron's 2028 language, the shortage stops being one company's view and becomes the industry consensus. The robot claim will take longer to test, but the first humanoid makers to publish onboard memory specs will show whether 200GB was a forecast or a sales pitch.
*Some links in this article are affiliate links. We may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.*
