Next car might need 300 GB of RAM, and so will autonomous robots (www.theregister.com)

Micron Technology has announced a significant increase in revenue, reporting nearly $24 billion for Q2 2026—almost triple its earnings from the same period last year. This surge is attributed to a rising demand for memory driven by the needs of AI and autonomous vehicles, which are projected to require over 300 GB of DRAM. Micron's CEO, Sanjay Mehrotra, emphasized the company's strategic shift towards multi-year customer agreements to enhance business visibility, forecasting strong long-term growth in both the automotive and robotics sectors. As the demand for more advanced memory solutions grows, Micron is also exploring new manufacturing processes and increasing R&D investments, particularly in high-bandwidth flash memory (HBF) for inferencing workloads. The expectation is that increased memory capacities will not only boost the functionality of AI-driven devices but also elevate costs, particularly in the automotive sector, where the bill of materials for autonomous vehicles is set to rise dramatically. Despite facing challenges in the PC and smartphone markets, Micron anticipates that on-device AI will drive significant memory growth across multiple technology segments, cementing its role in the burgeoning AI era.