Micron sees future opportunities in humanoid robots, self-driving cars

Micron ( MU ) has benefited handsomely from the AI boom . Its memory and storage chips are critical components to the data centers powering everything from OpenAI's ( OPAI.PVT ) ChatGPT to Anthropic's ( ANTH.PVT ) Claude and everything in between. And that has sent its revenue and stock price soaring.

In its Q4 report on Wednesday, Micron reported earnings per share of $33.42 , up a stunning 1,002% from the $3.03 the company saw in the same quarter last year. Revenue was just as impressive, climbing 379% to $54.23 billion from $11.31 billion in Q4 2025.

But Micron's success may not be limited to the data center. In his opening remarks on the company's Q4 earnings call, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra pointed to the opportunity he sees in physical AI , specifically with regard to self-driving cars and humanoid robots.

Humanoid robots will have similar memory and storage requirements, which could serve as an additional revenue opportunity.

The Society of Automotive Engineers ranks autonomous vehicles on a scale from 0 to 5, with level 0 providing no driver assistance and level 5 being totally self-driving. As the technology advances toward fully autonomous capabilities, Mehrotra said the need for memory and storage will increase significantly.

"Autonomous vehicles are the first major deployment of physical AI, which we believe will expand over time to humanoid robots and other intelligent autonomous systems," he said during the call.

"Memory content in level 4 and higher autonomous vehicles typically exceeds 200 gigabytes, while storage content reaches multiple terabytes, each more than an order of magnitude greater than in today's level two plus and level three semi-autonomous vehicles," Mehrotra explained.

"With the anticipated increase in both units and memory content, physical AI can become a significant driver of memory and storage demand by the end of this decade," Mehrotra said.

A number of companies are working to develop humanoid robots, including Tesla ( TSLA ) and Figure ( FIGR ), as well as Hyundai's ( 005380.KS ) Boston Dynamics, Unitree Robotics, and Agility Robotics ( AGRO.PVT ).

But sales haven't taken off quite yet. According to Reuters , only 7,000 humanoid robots were sold globally in 2025 for "industrial and professional services."

Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on X at @DanielHowley .