[News] Musk Weighs In on Memory: Praises Micron’s Future Pricing, Slams “Extortionate” Practices

Fresh off praising China’s rapid progress in LPDDR5 and LPDDR6 manufacturing, Elon Musk has turned his attention to memory pricing. In an October 14 post on X, Musk singled out Micron for praise, saying the U.S. memory giant “has been reasonable regarding future memory prices, while others have been extortionate.”

Musk’s endorsement for Micron, however, is nothing new. In July, he thanked the chipmaker for “making room for Tesla in the years to come,” revealing that Micron had secured a significant memory allocation for Tesla on reasonable terms despite what he described as “pretty insane” market prices, according to an Investing.com transcript.

His latest comments highlight growing tensions between memory makers’ pricing power and customers facing soaring costs amid persistent supply shortages. Musk was particularly critical of other suppliers’ “extortionate” pricing practices, warning that such treatment is something today’s customers “won’t forget.”

Against this backdrop, Money Today reports that Musk’s remarks have sparked speculation over whether his criticism was aimed at Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. However, he did not explicitly name either company or disclose details of any pricing negotiations.

Memory Giants Step Up Long-Term Supply Deals

Notably, Musk’s reference to future memory prices comes as chipmakers increasingly turn to long-term supply agreements (LTAs) amid persistent shortages. Micron, for one, had secured 26 such deals by September, up from 16 in June, as customers scrambled to lock in limited memory supply, according to FUTUBULL. Reuters further reports that the total value of these commitments had climbed to $32 billion from $22 billion in June, with most backed by cash deposits.

Citing JPMorgan, Money Today adds that Micron’s long-term supply commitments could cover more than 75% of its fiscal 2027 production. With memory prices remaining elevated, new agreements are also reportedly being struck at current high price levels, the report suggests.

Micron’s South Korean memory peers are also allocating a significant portion of production to long-term agreements. According to Hankyung, Samsung Electronics has reportedly secured agreements covering nearly 80% of its 2027 memory chip output, including HBM.

The report follows Samsung’s July earnings call, when the company outlined plans to allocate 60–70% of its production capacity to long-term contracts, as cited by ZDNet. News1 also reports that Samsung has signed deals with five major global data center customers, with talks involving five more nearing completion.

Meanwhile, SK hynix also revealed that it has secured roughly five-year long-term supply agreements (LTAs) with more than 10 customers at its July earnings call, according to The Elec.

Read more

• [News] Micron Sees Tighter Memory Supply Through FY28: When Will the Big Three’s New Capacity Arrive?
• [News] Musk Says Micron Is “Making Room” for Tesla in the Years to Come, Hinting at Long-Term Memory Supply

(Photo credit: Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra’s X)