Based on the tone of Micron’s analyst conference in Salt Lake City Thursday, it was hard to imagine that this is a company that has lost more than a half billion dollars over the last year.

Micron CEO Steve Appleton in no way acted like he was preparing to step down from the company as one analyst speculated last week.

He didn’t address those rumors at the meeting, but I understand he’s planning on talking about it tonight in an exclusive interview on his favorite television station.

What Appleton did talk about, was how bright the future appeared for Micron.

“In some ways I’m as excited or more excited then I have been for a long time,” Appleton said. “Finally something is happening to drive real change in the industry.”

He was talking about the crashing prices for memory. Yes, the same falling prices that have put more than 1,100 Micron employees in Boise in the unemployment line since June.

It would be easy to criticize Appleton for his optimism, but we can’t forget he’s the CEO of a struggling company. He can’t be anything but optimistic. No one wants to admit defeat.

And I hate to admit it, but as I listened to him during the web cast of the meeting, I started to understand his logic and his reasoning for the chipper outlook.

There’s no denying that Micron has lost a lot of money, but it’s still not to the level of 2003 and in terms of revenues the company has continued to grow revenues while many of its competitors have not.

Appleton’s theory is that the crashing prices might force some companies out of the picture and potentially lead to more consolidation in the industry, which would make it easier to balance the supply and demand equation.

Now he didn’t come out and say it would be Micron doing the consolidating, but he hinted at it.

“We’re well positioned to participate as opportunities come up,” he said. “If you look at the strength of our cash balance sheet, it’s very significant and it’s very good.”

Appleton is sticking to the old theory of things will get a lot worse before they get better.

“Nothing happens until a market is in crisis,” he said. “You don’t get industry behavior or realignments and consolidation until people are really in trouble.”

What was notably absent from Appleton’s discussion was what kind of impact it would have on Boise. I have a feeling we’re just going to have to accept that it’s going to get lot worse and there’s not guarantee it will get better in Boise.