Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra Was Denied US Visa 3 Times, Now Heads $1 Trillion Firm

Semiconductor giant Micron Technology has officially crossed a $1 trillion market capitalization, anchoring the global spotlight on its long-time Chief Executive Officer, Sanjay Mehrotra, whose journey to the top began with a series of dramatic visa rejections five decades ago.

Now heading one of the world's largest memory chip producers, Mehrotra's multi-billion-dollar enterprise has surged in valuation due to the global boom in artificial intelligence infrastructure. However, according to an interview Mehrotra gave to the Computer History Museum, his path to Silicon Valley nearly ended before it began.

In the summer of 1976, Mehrotra was a teenage engineering student from Kanpur standing inside the US Embassy in New Delhi. He had just been denied an American student visa for the third consecutive time, jeopardizing his plans to study at the University of California, Berkeley.

While Mehrotra prepared to accept the decision, his father refused to leave the embassy lobby. Spotting the US Consul, his father followed the official directly into his private office. Over the course of a 20-minute meeting, Mehrotra's father passionately argued his son's academic merit and case for studying abroad.

The consul ultimately relented and approved the visa stamp.The reversal allowed Mehrotra to attend UC Berkeley, where he went on to earn his bachelor's and master's degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences. He would later co-found SanDisk before taking the helm at Micron, frequently citing his father's persistence during that embassy standoff as the foundational lesson that defined his approach to the tech industry.

From Kanpur to California

Sanjay Mehrotra was born in Kanpur in 1958 and studied at BITS Pilani before moving to the United States at the age of 18. After finally securing his visa, he went on to study electrical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.

His journey from a middle-class Indian family to the top of the global technology industry is now being seen as one of the most inspiring success stories in the semiconductor business.

Building SanDisk

In 1988, Mehrotra co-founded SanDisk along with Eli Harari and Jack Yuan. The company became a pioneer in flash memory storage technology, helping shape the future of digital storage devices.

SanDisk went public in 1995 and grew into one of the most recognised names in memory storage. In 2016, Western Digital acquired the company in a deal worth around $16 billion. Mehrotra played a key role in negotiating the deal while serving as SanDisk's chief executive.

Taking Charge at Micron

According to Forbes, a year after the SanDisk sale, Mehrotra was appointed CEO of Micron Technology in 2017. At the time, Micron's stock traded at around $30 a share.

Under his leadership, the company expanded strongly as global demand for memory chips surged, especially due to the rapid growth of artificial intelligence and data centres.

Micron's shares have risen sharply over the years, helping push the company into the list of America's most valuable firms. The company recently crossed a market capitalisation of $1 trillion, becoming one of the few chipmakers in the world to achieve the milestone.

AI Boom Drives Growth

The rise of artificial intelligence has created huge demand for high-performance memory chips used in AI servers and advanced computing systems, as reported by Forbes. Micron has benefited heavily from this boom. The company's stock has climbed rapidly over the past year as investors bet on the future of AI technology.

The rally has also boosted Mehrotra's personal fortune. The 67-year-old executive is now estimated to be worth around $1.2 billion, thanks largely to Micron stock awards and his long career in the memory chip industry.

A Story of Persistence

Mehrotra's rise from a student repeatedly denied a visa to the CEO of a trillion-dollar technology giant highlights a story of determination and persistence.

What once looked like a setback at the US embassy in Delhi eventually became the beginning of a journey that transformed him into one of the most successful Indian-origin business leaders in the world.