Micron, the Boise, Idaho-based memory chip maker, has captured the heart of Wall Street. Whether the love affair lasts will largely depend on how long the AI-powered memory chip crisis lasts.
Micron promises that it has backed its position for the long term, which should allow it to withstand a sudden drop in demand or excess capacity. And Wall Street has been loyal, helping Micron briefly beat the market valuation Meta and Tesla for the first time on Thursday, although it dropped by Friday to almost match them.
Specifically, Micron closed Friday trading with a market capitalization of close to $1.27 trillion, while Meta was at $1.39 trillion and Tesla at $1.42 trillion. Micron stock jumped more than 236% in the past month alone, closing Friday at $1,132 a share. By comparison, it spent years before mid-2025 at less than $100 per share.
It’s a meteoric rise for a company that most consumers associated with the tiny memory cards that, in the past, were typically needed to power computers, smartphones or other storage devices.
Wall Street isn’t sweating over this product line. Micron is benefiting from the AI data center boom that has created a shortage of system memory chips, both DRAM and NAND, that Micron makes, particularly High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM). A single AI server requires much more memory than a laptop.
AI system makers like Nvidia, as well as hyperscalers who build their own systems, are buying large amounts of memory, including Microsoft, Amazon AWS, Google, Meta, and Oracle. This forces all the other companies that need memory to stockpile it as well, from PC makers like Dell and HP to other types of device makers.
This supply shortage, which has been dubbed RAMageddon, is predicted to continue in 2027. And it’s already driving up the price of consumer electronics like Apple products and Xbox consoles.
With the entire tech industry clamoring for more memory, Micron delivered blockbuster third-quarter earnings last week. Revenue quadrupled year-over-year to $41.45 billion and profit jumped 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.
And Wall Street, eager to find more public AI-related companies that might do as well as Nvidia, fell even more enamored.
The historical problem for memory chip makers like Micron and Samsung is that setting up production facilities to increase capacity is a time-consuming and expensive endeavor. And demand often falls just as companies are able to increase production capacity, creating a glut and a subsequent drop in prices.
Micron preempted any AI talk by highlighting a series of long-term supply deals, including with Nvidia and the AI Lab Humanethat would probably protect it. The company said in its earnings call that it has signed 16 strategic customer deals across its data center, consumer and automotive segments, which it expects to radically transform its business model.
That seemed to convince some analysts that this company could be another long-term, profitable investment. In a research note, William Blair technology analyst Sebastien Naji noted that demand growth continues to outpace the rate at which new cleanroom space can be rolled out.
“Given the high likelihood of continued ASP growth in the coming quarters and improved revenue projection thanks to a rapidly expanding set of long-term agreements (SCAs) with key customers, we see potential for more sustained earnings growth and reiterate our Outperform rating,” Naji wrote.
Whether Micron can actually sustain itself over the long term without a cycle of failure remains to be seen. But for a brief moment on Thursday, this American company was more valuable than some of the industry’s giants.
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