Micron Technology (MU) and Super Micro Computer (SMCI) shares fell on Thursday as a wave of selling swept through AI and semiconductor stocks. Micron dropped nearly 4% in premarket trading to $861.43, while SMCI closed 3.1% lower at $29.38. The declines followed weak guidance from Western Digital and a mixed outlook from SanDisk, which sparked concerns about margin sustainability across the memory chip sector.
Despite the selloff, Apple CEO Tim Cook offered a bullish signal for memory producers. During Apple’s earnings call, Cook said the company paid “significantly more” for memory in the June quarter and expects costs to be “even higher” in the current quarter. For Micron, one of only three major suppliers of DRAM and high-bandwidth memory, higher customer costs translate into stronger average selling prices and sustained pricing power. Analysts remain optimistic, with a consensus Buy rating and an average price target of $1,548.86 for Micron, which is expected to report earnings of $31.24 per share in September.
Super Micro Computer was also caught in the downturn, amplified by Elon Musk’s comment that his companies would use Nvidia chips exclusively. That remark pressured AI hardware peers. Still, SMCI’s outlook includes a backlog of over $60 billion and raised gross margin guidance to 15%–17%. The company is set to report fiscal Q4 earnings on August 11, with Wall Street forecasting EPS of $0.92, up 124% year-over-year. Analyst consensus is a Hold rating with an average price target of $38.40, suggesting roughly 31% upside from current levels.
