The Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) tumbled more than 6% in premarket trading on Tuesday, falling to $60.65, as a broad selloff in memory-chip stocks spread from South Korea to US markets. The decline came despite Samsung Electronics delivering blockbuster preliminary second-quarter earnings, with operating profit soaring to 89.4 trillion won ($58.4 billion) — a 19-fold jump from the same period last year — and revenue more than doubling to 171 trillion won.
Rather than rallying on the news, Samsung shares dropped 6.9% in Seoul, triggering a wave of profit-taking across the sector. SK Hynix slid 6.1%, while in Japan Kioxia lost over 10%. The selling quickly rippled into US equities: Micron Technology fell 7.3%, Western Digital shed 8.14%, and SanDisk (SNDK) dropped 8% after already declining 23% over three prior sessions. SanDisk remains up about 635% year-to-date, underscoring the extraordinary rally that preceded the pullback.
The DRAM ETF, which is heavily concentrated in the top three memory names — Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron — has now fallen more than 25% from its 2026 high. Analysts pointed to two possible reasons for the disconnect between strong earnings and weak stock performance. First, investors who bought ahead of the results used the news as an opportunity to lock in profits. Second, negative industry developments weighed on sentiment, including a report that Meta Platforms may sell excess capacity, a price-fixing lawsuit against memory companies, and Apple’s move to buy memory from Chinese suppliers, which could increase global supply.
Morgan Stanley analyst Mike Wilson warned that memory stocks could face a deeper correction, predicting a rotation toward hyperscalers. Attention now turns to SK Hynix’s US listing on the Nasdaq later this week, which could either stabilize the sector or prolong the downturn.
