via TechCrunch
Why Wall Street Thinks US Memory Maker Micron Is the Next Nvidia
Micron, the Boise, Idaho-based memory chip maker, has captured Wall Street’s heart. Whether this love affair endures will depend heavily on how long the AI-driven supply crunch for memory chips lasts.
Micron promises it has solidified its position for the long term, enabling it to withstand sudden demand drops or capacity oversupply. Wall Street has become a believer, helping Micron briefly surpass the market valuations of Meta and Tesla for the first time on Thursday—though it dipped back by Friday to nearly match them.
Specifically, Micron closed Friday’s trading with a market cap near $1.27 trillion, while Meta sat at $1.39 trillion and Tesla at $1.42 trillion. Micron’s stock has surged over 236% in the past month alone, closing Friday at $1,132 per share—a dramatic leap from its pre-2025 levels below $100.
It’s a dizzying rise for a company most consumers associate with the tiny memory cards once commonly needed to boost PC, smartphone, or device storage. But Wall Street isn’t sweating that product line.
## The AI Memory Boom
Micron is benefiting from the AI data center buildout boom, which has created a shortage of system memory chips—both DRAM and NAND, including High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM). A single AI server requires magnitudes more memory than a laptop. AI system makers like Nvidia, along with hyperscalers building their own infrastructure—Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Google, Meta, and Oracle—are buying up vast quantities of memory. This forces other companies that need memory to hoard it as well, from PC makers like Dell and HP to other device manufacturers.
This supply shortage, dubbed "RAMageddon," is predicted to persist into 2027 and is already driving up consumer electronics prices, including Apple products and Xbox consoles.
## Stellar Earnings and Outlook
With the tech industry clamoring for more memory, Micron delivered blockbuster third-quarter earnings last week. Revenue quadrupled year-over-year to $41.45 billion, and profits skyrocketed from $1.88 billion to $28.2 billion over the same period. Micron also provided a positive outlook, forecasting fourth-quarter revenue between $49 billion and $51 billion. Wall Street, eager to find more public AI-related companies that might perform as well as Nvidia, became even more enamored.
## The Cyclical Risk
The historic challenge for memory chip makers like Micron and Samsung is that building manufacturing facilities to increase capacity is time-consuming and expensive. Demand often falls just as companies can increase capacity, creating a glut and subsequent price drop. Micron got ahead of any AI bust chatter by emphasizing a series of long-term supply agreements, including with Nvidia and AI labs, signaling confidence that demand will remain robust.