The president of Micron Technology is optimistic about the coming year for the company, which he said has diversified its market opportunities. “Our best times are in front of us.”

In a webcast from the Sanford C. Bernstein 31st Annual Conference earlier this week, Mark Adams said despite the difficulties in the PC DRAM market for the first half of 2015, Micron has a solid foundation in place to capitalize on its strengths and improve in other areas.

More broadly, Adams said the dynamics of the memory business have stayed the same fundamentally and that growth in capacity has been moderated relative to market demands with consolidation being good for the industry. “Overall the industry is doing well.”

Adam acknowledged general market pressures, especially the weak PC market, but for Micron specifically, the company is seeing its products in more diverse markets, with mobile surpassing expectations, as well opportunities in the enterprise and automotive markets.

Most people didn’t think mobile devices would need a gigabyte of DRAM, Adams noted, but now some devices boast three. Meanwhile, the NAND market has stabilized, and he said the PC DRAM market can’t be any worse in the remaining six months of the year than they were in the first. “Our suspicion is that people didn't anticipate such a bad first year for PCs.” Adams expects the DRAM business to shift toward mobile in the latter half of 2015.

“We’re pretty bullish on NAND,” Adams said. “Mobile NAND growth has been phenomenal for us.” Micron needs to continue to execute on getting back to a leadership position in the NAND segment, he said, adding this year is a big year in terms of execution for Micron. It’s a huge investment year, particularly in terms of 20nm manufacturing, he said, and there’s also a greater focus on building the right configurations for costumers. “Customers want us to help them develop enterprise storage solutions, for example.”

Adams said that as the memory business diversifies, elements such as firmware and packaging are becoming just as critical. “Software, firmware and controllers are just as important as raw NAND.”

Adam said the long-term focus of Micron is integrating its manufacturing capabilities so it can be agile enough to reach to changes in the business. Financially, it is in a position to spend what it needs to on innovation, he said. With its third quarter close to ending, it has seven previous straight quarters of profitability. Another area of focus is leading the development of hybrid memory cube technology.

Adams also acknowledged the company is lagging in terms of process technology, with a current mix of 30nm and 25nm technologies; Micron should be at 20nm for the most part in the next twelve months. On the 3D NAND front, he said the company on schedule, having committed to floating gate technology.

In March, Micron and Intel claimed they would be second to Samsung with ultra-dense 3D NAND flash chips that will sell as chips and in solid-state drives. Micron is already sampling chip-level products that will ship by the end of the year. “Our approach is getting higher performance and density,” Adams said. “It allows us to develop innovative enterprise products up front.”

An area that Adams said Micron needs to improve upon is controllers. Although the company has some wins in this area, he said, it needs to invest more.

Last year, Micron was digesting Japanese memory chip maker Elpida, after a year-long quest to acquire its former rival, assuming control of Elpida's 300-mm DRAM fab in Hiroshima, Japan. It also too 100% ownership of Akita Elpida Memory Inc., including a test and assembly facility located in Akita, Japan.

Adams said he sees no imminent acquisitions on the horizon. When asked during the webcast what might make a likely target, he said companies that filled gaps in Micron’s business and skill sets, such as those with controller, systems level and software capabilities, as well as those in specific vertical markets, would make sense, but didn’t see there being opportunities in the DRAM space.