Elon Musk praised Micron Technology for keeping future memory prices “reasonable” and criticized unnamed competitors for what he called “extortionate” pricing. His point was about the value of customer loyalty: buyers may remember how suppliers treated them when memory was in demand. But Musk did not name the companies he criticized, and his post does not establish any specific negotiations or quoted prices.
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What Musk said
Musk posted on X on October 13 in the United States, a post reported in Asia on October 14. He wrote that Micron “has been reasonable regarding future memory prices, while others have been extortionate,” adding that customers would not forget. He also described Micron’s approach as a smart move for long-term customer loyalty.
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The post was a reply to an analyst’s summary of a bullish JPMorgan note on the memory and storage industry—not an announcement of a supply deal.
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4 Its core message was straightforward: in a tight market, pricing decisions could affect how customers view suppliers over the long term.
Why reports speculated about Samsung and SK hynix
Musk named Micron, but not the competitors he had in mind. Some coverage and commentary pointed readers toward Samsung Electronics and SK hynix because those companies, alongside Micron, are major memory-chip suppliers. That is industry-context speculation, not confirmation of Musk’s intended targets.
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The distinction matters: his post does not identify a supplier, customer, negotiation, product category, or price. Headlines that frame the post as a direct accusation against a particular company go beyond what Musk said publicly.
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The JPMorgan context behind the post
The analyst post Musk replied to summarized a bullish JPMorgan outlook. Reports citing that note said Micron had 26 long-term customer agreements covering more than 35% of revenue through 2030, alongside a contracted backlog of $150 billion. These are reported figures attributed to JPMorgan, not terms Musk disclosed in his post.
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That backdrop helps explain why the loyalty argument attracted attention: reports described strong AI-related demand as giving memory suppliers greater influence over commercial terms. In that setting, a supplier’s approach to pricing can become part of its relationship with customers—not just a near-term financial decision.
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Earlier Micron ties—and the limit of what they show
TrendForce reported that Musk had thanked Micron in July for making room for Tesla in the years ahead, describing the allocation as being on reasonable terms. That earlier praise provides context for his later comments, but it does not establish the details of any current deal.
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A separate report said Nvidia processors used at xAI’s Colossus data centers contain Micron memory, while noting that this does not prove a direct Micron supply agreement with Musk’s businesses. The distinction is useful: a hardware connection is not the same as a confirmed direct purchasing arrangement.
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Musk’s post, then, is best read as praise for Micron’s reported pricing approach and a warning that customers may remember how suppliers behave in a constrained market. The rivals’ identities—and the details of any underlying negotiations—remain unconfirmed.