MKS Instruments Earns Zacks Rank 1 as Earnings Estimates Rise

Citi expects shortages across the global memory semiconductor market to deepen through 2031, driven by rising demand for high-bandwidth memory, DRAM and NAND as artificial intelligence systems adopt continual learning. In a research note published Monday, the investment bank identified continual learning as a potential central theme in AI development over the next five years, an approach that updates AI models with new tasks while retaining prior knowledge and so drives demand for both memory and data storage. Citi forecasts HBM bit demand will increase 62% year over year to 75.2 billion gigabits in 2027, followed by a further 69% rise to 127.0 billion gigabits in 2028, and it expects demand for enterprise solid-state drives to expand as AI systems require additional storage capacity. For DRAM, Citi projects global demand growth of 30% in 2027 and 35% in 2028, against supply growth of 19% and 22%, producing supply-demand ratios of -8.7% and -9.7% for the respective years. The bank anticipates a similar imbalance in NAND memory, forecasting demand growth of 29% in 2027 and 33% in 2028 versus supply increases of 21% and 25%, with NAND supply-demand ratios of -6.1% in 2027 and -5.5% in 2028 compared with an estimated -0.8% in 2026. In its equity research, Citi named Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Micron, Sandisk and Kioxia as its preferred memory semiconductor stocks, and highlighted Montage, Applied Materials, Lam Research, TES, Eugene Tech and TechWing within semiconductor equipment and materials.

KLA Corporation is benefiting from accelerating artificial intelligence infrastructure spending, which is driving higher investments in leading-edge foundry and logic technologies and boosting demand for its process-control solutions. In fiscal 2026, the Semiconductor Process Control segment's revenues increased 12% year over year, and overall fiscal 2026 revenues rose 12% year over year to $13.58 billion. During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, management raised its calendar 2026 wafer-fabrication equipment market estimate, including advanced packaging, to the low-$150 billion range, up from its previous $140 billion-plus view and approximately $120 billion in calendar 2025. KLAC expects second-half 2026 revenues to be approximately 20% higher than the first half, aided by high-performance computing, high-bandwidth memory, increasing extreme ultraviolet adoption in DRAM and advanced packaging technologies such as hybrid bonding, and said backlog was expected to reach about $12.5 billion. The company faces intensifying competition from Applied Materials, which expects its process diagnostics and control business to grow more than 50% in calendar 2026, and from ASML, which expects advanced foundry and logic revenues to rise about 25% in 2026 and extreme ultraviolet revenues to increase roughly 45%.

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan warned this week that memory prices have jumped 5x to 7x and now account for roughly 75% of the cost of some lower-end phones and laptops, cautioning the shortage could deepen in 2027. Tan told investors the industry faces one of the most severe supply constraints in its history across leading-edge logic, silicon wafers, memory, and subscripts, and said these shortages will persist for the foreseeable future. Intel is pivoting production toward data-center CPUs and now guides 2026 capital expenditure above $20 billion, with 2027 spending set to run significantly higher. Micron Technology echoed the outlook, saying it sees tightness continuing beyond 2027, aligned with SK hynix flagging 2027 as potentially the industry's worst supply year. Micron's $100 billion in take-or-pay remaining performance obligations and $22 billion in customer deposits and letters of credit lock in floor pricing above prior peak margins, while its fiscal third-quarter gross margin hit 84.9% on DRAM pricing gains in the low 60s percentage range and NAND pricing in the mid-80s percentage range.