Michael Burry has deepened his bearish bets on several prominent AI and semiconductor names, while Wall Street analysts at Citi are pushing a much more bullish view on memory-chip maker Micron. Burry said in a September 22 Substack post that he added to short positions in Micron Technology, Nebius Group, Palantir Technologies and the iShares Semiconductor ETF "in some size."
The investor’s thesis centers on a potential shift in the memory supply cycle. Burry highlighted remarks from Acer CEO Jason Chen, who noted that some memory types, including LPDDR5 and DDR5 9600, remain difficult to source, while DDR4 already has "more sellers than buyers." Burry also pointed to a report that China’s CXMT had achieved DDR5 manufacturing yields above 90%, calling that significant if confirmed. He argued that producers have shifted capacity toward high-bandwidth memory used in AI data centers, but conventional memory production is starting to increase again, and Chinese manufacturers could add further supply.
Burry also questioned the valuation and concentration of the Nasdaq 100, describing it as historically expensive and heavily concentrated. He was not exiting equities entirely, however. He added to long positions in QXO, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Sprouts Farmers Market, Birkenstock and MercadoLibre, saying each had corrected sharply and become a full position in his portfolio.
Separately, Citi raised its Micron price target to $1,300 from $1,150, implying about 19% upside from Tuesday’s close of $1,096.16. Micron shares were down about 0.3% Wednesday near $1,093 after a four-session rally that included a 5% gain on Tuesday. The bank expects stronger DRAM and NAND pricing and continued AI-driven demand to support earnings, with supply constraints potentially keeping DRAM and NAND markets tight into 2027.
Citi raised estimates for Micron’s August and November quarters, forecasting fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of about $51 billion and earnings of $31.45 per share, above consensus. The bank models blended DRAM average selling prices rising 20% quarter over quarter in the current period and another 13% next quarter, while NAND pricing rises 34% and then 15%. It also expects enterprise SSD demand tied to AI inference to offset weaker consumer NAND demand.
The next key catalyst is Micron’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report on September 30, followed by SEMICON West from October 13 to 15 in San Francisco. Citi expects equipment suppliers at the conference to discuss shortages in DRAM, multilayer ceramic capacitors, printed circuit boards and optical components, which could limit how quickly memory manufacturers add supply. Citi estimates DRAM and NAND supply growth could remain in the low-20% range and expects memory prices to peak around the second quarter of 2027.
Micron has already surged in 2026, trading near $1,100 after touching a 52-week high of $1,255 and pushing its market value above $1.2 trillion. The main investor risks include a faster-than-expected drop in memory pricing, weaker AI spending, new supply coming online and elevated expectations.
