Micron Technology (MU) shares slumped 4% on Thursday, adding to a 10% plunge the previous day, as a broad selloff in technology stocks overshadowed a $250 million investment announcement tied to “Trump Accounts” and a bullish endorsement from President Donald Trump. The decline came despite Trump’s Truth Social post calling Micron “a truly GREAT American Company” and a “HISTORIC” investor in the child savings program. Mizuho Securities maintained an Outperform rating with a $1,375 price target, but the tide of profit-taking across high-flying semiconductor names proved too strong.
The weakness mirrored a global retreat in memory chip stocks: South Korea’s KOSPI index tumbled 7.9%, with SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics down 14.6% and 9.1% respectively. Still, Micron has gained 219% in 2026 alone, and its market cap recently crossed $1 trillion for the first time, driven by an AI-fueled boom in high-bandwidth memory (HBM). Analysts at Mizuho argue that demand for memory will remain robust through 2027, calling Micron a “key winner” in the AI infrastructure buildout.
The deeper narrative is whether Micron is replacing Nvidia as Wall Street’s bellwether for artificial intelligence spending. Nvidia’s quarterly results once moved entire supply chains, but its stock has risen only 3% year-to-date as investors price in perfection. In contrast, Micron’s last earnings report delivered a 346% revenue surge, gross margins of 84.9%, and a profit of $28.2 billion – numbers that steadied the broader AI trade after a sharp selloff earlier in June. With only three manufacturers – Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix – capable of producing HBM at scale, the company now enjoys sustained pricing power that some call a “Micron tax” on hyperscalers.
However, memory’s cyclical history and the reliance on elevated prices pose risks. If demand slows or supply catches up, Micron’s valuation could correct sharply. The company is countering with long-term contracts and a $200 billion investment in new fabrication plants, betting that structural demand from AI will break the old boom-bust cycle. For now, the market appears to believe that gigabytes, not teraflops, are the new currency of the AI era.
