Semiconductor stocks staged a strong recovery on Thursday, with AMD, Micron, and SanDisk leading the rebound after a recent sector-wide selloff triggered by Samsung's earnings. The gains came as fresh analyst coverage, upward price target revisions, and robust memory demand data reassured investors about the AI-driven growth outlook.
AMD shares climbed 1.9% in pre-market trading, opening at $517.41, after William Blair initiated coverage with a Market Perform rating and projected sales would double from $52 billion in 2026 to over $104 billion by 2028. Goldman Sachs also lifted its AMD price target to $640, adding to bullish sentiment. The chipmaker’s Q1 results beat expectations, with EPS of $1.37 versus the $1.29 consensus and revenue of $10.25 billion, up 37.8% year-over-year. AMD confirmed its Q2 earnings date for August 4, providing a near-term catalyst.
Broader memory and storage stocks also surged. Micron Technology rose over 7%, SanDisk gained about 7.5%, Western Digital advanced over 7.2%, and Seagate Technology climbed more than 6.5%. The recovery followed a sharp decline earlier in the week when Samsung’s preliminary earnings triggered profit-taking. Fresh data from UBS Memory Monthly report showed global memory sales reached a record $74.6 billion, jumping 31.7% month-on-month and beating seasonal trends. This, along with reports of massive investor demand for SK Hynix’s US listing, reinforced confidence in AI memory suppliers.
Micron’s announcement of plans to invest more than $250 billion in U.S. manufacturing capacity through 2035 further boosted sentiment. SanDisk got an additional lift from a Reuters report that Meta Platforms will begin manufacturing an AI chip in September and has secured long-term supply agreements with Samsung for memory, SanDisk for flash storage, and Sumitomo Electric for fiber optics. Wall Street remains bullish, with Bank of America reiterating a $1,550 price target on Micron and arguing the market underestimates the shift to more predictable pricing as memory becomes critical to AI infrastructure.
