Elon Musk has praised Micron for its approach to memory chip pricing, saying in a post on X that the US memory maker “has been reasonable regarding future memory prices, while others have been extortionate.” Musk did not say which companies he meant by “others”, and he gave no details of the prices or terms he was referring to.
What Musk said
Musk made the comments late on Tuesday, 13 October 2026, at 22:52 London time, in a reply to the account @RealNickMugalli, which had posted about Micron’s long-term supply deals. His full post read:
“Micron has been reasonable regarding future memory prices, while others have been extortionate, which is something today’s customers won’t forget …
Micron is making is the smart move for long-term customer loyalty.”
(The wording is as posted, via @elonmusk on X.)
Who are the ‘others’?
Musk named no other company. Tom’s Hardware, which reported the post on 15 October, said his remarks “seem to be directed at Samsung Electronics and SK hynix,” the two South Korean companies that, with Micron, dominate the market for DRAM and high-bandwidth memory (HBM). That is Tom’s Hardware’s reading, not something Musk said.
Tom’s Hardware also noted that supply contracts between memory makers and their customers tend to be confidential, so it is impossible to tell from the outside whether any supplier is charging substantially more than Micron for comparable products.
Context: a very tight memory market
Memory has shifted from an easy-to-buy commodity to a strategic asset over the past several quarters, as AI data centres soak up DRAM and HBM, according to Tom’s Hardware. It reported that makers have raised prices severalfold without comparable increases in production capacity, so supply is still lagging demand.
Micron is hardly selling cheaply. Tom’s Hardware reported that in its fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, Micron posted revenue of $54.23 billion and a GAAP gross margin of 81%, up from 40% a year earlier. Gross margin is the share of revenue left after the direct cost of making the products, so 81% means production costs took less than a fifth of sales.
Micron has also been locking customers into long-term agreements. Tom’s Hardware reported that the company has signed 26 strategic customer agreements covering “more than 35%” of its expected revenue through 2030, with $32 billion in customer financial commitments, mostly cash deposits. It said Micron acknowledges that the new agreements reflect higher prevailing memory prices.
Why it matters
Musk’s post is an opinion with no figures attached, but it drew wide attention: the X API showed more than 2.7 million impressions when TSN checked on 15 October. Public praise for one supplier and criticism of unnamed rivals is unusual in a market where pricing is normally kept private. Musk has not said whether his businesses plan to shift purchases between suppliers.
What to watch
TSN has not seen a response from Micron, Samsung or SK hynix. Watch for any reply from the memory makers, and for whether Musk names the companies he had in mind.
What this means
- Opinion, not data. Musk gave no prices or contract terms.
- No names. The Samsung and SK hynix reading is Tom’s Hardware’s, not Musk’s.
- Micron still earns high margins. “Reasonable” is relative in a supply-constrained market.
Sources
- Elon Musk (@elonmusk), post on X, 13 October 2026. https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2110126632572756339
- Anton Shilov, “Elon Musk calls out memory makers over ‘extortionate’ chip pricing, says Micron is playing smart for long-term loyalty”, Tom’s Hardware, 15 October 2026. https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/dram/elon-musk-accuses-samsung-sk-hynix-of-unreasonable-memory-pricing
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