Memory chipmaker Micron's quarterly revenue beats estimates

March 18 (Reuters) - Chipmaker Micron Technology beat Wall Street expectations for second-quarter ‌revenue on Wednesday, benefiting from ‌a surge in demand for its memory chips ​used in artificial intelligence hardware.

Customers are committing to long-term data center investments as technology companies race toward artificial general ‌intelligence. The ⁠resulting growth in AI data center capacity is fueling a ⁠sharp rise in demand for advanced memory and storage.

Micron is one of the ​only three ​major suppliers ​of high bandwidth ‌memory (HBM) chips essential to AI technology, along with South Korea's Samsung and SK Hynix.

The chipmaker forecast third-quarter revenue in the range of $33.5 billion, plus or minus $750 ‌million, compared with ​analysts' average estimate of $24.29 ​billion, according ​to data compiled by LSEG.

The ‌company reported revenue of $23.86 ​billion for ​the quarter, beating an estimate of $20.07 billion. Its board also approved a ​30% ‌increase to its quarterly dividend.

(Reporting by ​Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing ​by Shailesh Kuber)