Micron Technology is vigorously advancing its HBM capacity expansion, planning to increase monthly capacity from about 40,000 to 50,000 wafers last year to about 100,000 wafers by the end of 2026, achieving more than a doubling of capacity.

According to South Korean media outlet ETNews, Micron plans to add up to 60,000 wafers per month of HBM capacity by the end of the year. To achieve this goal, the company is significantly increasing purchase orders with multiple HBM manufacturing equipment suppliers, with related equipment continuously being shipped into its plants in Taiwan, China, and Singapore.

Currently, Micron's HBM packaging business is mainly carried out at its Tongluo plant in Taiwan, China, and its Woodlands plant in Singapore, while equipment investment at its Hiroshima plant in Japan is also being actively prepared. Notably, Micron's Hiroshima plant expansion project officially broke ground in July 2026, with a total investment of about 1.5 trillion yen (approximately US$9.3 billion). HBM product shipments are expected to begin in summer 2028, and Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will provide up to about 500 billion yen in subsidy support.

Technology Ramp

In terms of product mix, Micron is rapidly shifting toward 12-high HBM4 products. At present, its HBM output is still mainly 12-high HBM3E, but the share of 12-high HBM4 has risen from 20% to 30% at the beginning of this year and is expected to increase to as high as 50% by the end of the year. 12-high HBM4 is the companion memory for Nvidia's latest AI accelerator "Vera Rubin," and Micron started mass production of this product in the second quarter of 2026. Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra revealed on the company's fiscal 2026 third-quarter earnings call that the ramp-up speed of 12-high HBM4 is about twice that of 12-high HBM3E, and cumulative HBM4 shipment revenue has surpassed US$1 billion. Micron expects to begin volume ramp of the next-generation HBM4E in 2027, with first samples to be built using DRAM modules made with the 1-gamma process.

HBM Competitive Landscape

Although Micron is going all out to catch up, the capacity bases of its two major competitors remain far ahead. Industry estimates put Samsung and SK hynix's monthly HBM capacity at about 150,000 to 200,000 wafers each, about 3 to 4 times Micron's current level. According to Counterpoint Research data, in the global HBM market in the second quarter of 2026, SK hynix ranked first with 50%, Samsung Electronics accounted for 32%, and Micron only 18%. If Micron's capacity expansion targets are achieved as scheduled, the capacity gap between it and the two major competitors is expected to narrow to about half of the current level.

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