On Tuesday, storage-related stocks experienced broad gains, with Micron Technology (MU.US) soaring more than 12%, SanDisk (SNDK.US) rising over 6%, Western Digital (WDC.US) climbing more than 5%, and Seagate Technology (STX.US) advancing over 2%. The catalyst for the rally was a recent media interview with Micron's CEO Sanjay Mehrotra, who warned that the global shortage of memory chips could persist beyond 2026, as demand growth driven by artificial intelligence continues to far outpace industry capacity expansion. Mehrotra emphasized that even with active construction of new wafer fabs across the sector, the current supply-demand imbalance represents a long-term structural issue, not merely a traditional cyclical fluctuation. Truly significant new capacity is not expected to come online until at least 2028. Memory manufacturing is a capital-intensive business with exceptionally long construction cycles; the time from groundbreaking to equipment commissioning far exceeds common estimates. To shift more capacity toward AI-related products, Micron has begun scaling back its consumer storage business and discontinuing certain branded product lines. The company also plans to substantially increase capital expenditures in 2026, focusing investments on high-bandwidth memory (HBM) required for AI accelerators. Previously, UBS raised its price target for Micron Technology from $535 to $1,625, the highest on Wall Street, implying a market capitalization of approximately $1.8 trillion.