Memory chip stocks extended their recovery on Thursday, lifting the Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) by 20% from its monthly low to $59.23. The surge followed Alphabet’s raised capital expenditure guidance and an unexpected shout-out from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, easing fears of an AI spending slowdown.
Alphabet increased its 2026 capex forecast to $195–$205 billion, up from $180–$190 billion, citing capacity acceleration for growing AI and cloud demand. CFO Anat Ashkenazi noted a “supply-constrained environment” with robust demand. This drove Micron shares up 3.3% and SK Hynix ADRs up 6.2%. Musk thanked Micron for memory allocation and called memory pricing “pretty insane,” highlighting the critical role of advanced memory in AI infrastructure.
The DRAM ETF has attracted over $10 billion in inflows in the past month and nearly $24 billion over three months, with AUM reaching $23 billion. Top constituent stocks—including Samsung, SanDisk, and Seagate—also rallied. However, risks remain: the fund’s high concentration, the cyclical nature of the memory industry, and potential future spending cuts by hyperscalers.
Upcoming earnings from Amazon, Meta, Apple, Microsoft, and memory firms like SK Hynix and SanDisk will provide further clues. While not directly a crypto story, the memory chip market is crucial for cryptocurrency mining hardware; a sustained rally could increase mining equipment costs and impact profitability.
