Micron Stock At $733: Why Did Memory Stocks Crash?
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If you’ve priced a new laptop or phone lately, you’ve seen it: memory got expensive. AI data centers buy so much of it that contract prices for the memory chips called DRAM are still expected to rise 10% to 15% this quarter, research firm TrendForce forecasts. Memory makers’ sales soared: Micron’s revenue over the last 12 months more than tripled. Then, from late June, their stocks fell hard.
| Stock | Below June high | Still up this year |
|---|---|---|
| SanDisk | −62% | +274% |
| Western Digital | −61% | +68% |
| Seagate | −54% | +84% |
| Micron | −40% | +157% |
Those gains and losses both land in the same funds. In a portfolio of a few million dollars, this year’s chip winners can quietly become the biggest positions. Is that the plan? A Trefis partner firm can review it with you in a free 15-minute call.
What Turned Investors?
- June 23: a crash in Korean stocks, led by SK Hynix and Samsung, hit memory stocks. Micron and SanDisk fell 13% and 14% that day.
- October: China’s CXMT reported progress on a new, denser memory-chip design, raising fears of too much supply.
- Spot prices, the price for memory bought on the day, started to slip, led by NAND flash, even as contract prices kept rising.
Memory stocks fall before memory prices do. Investors sell when they think price increases will slow down, not when prices actually fall.
A bet on the peak, not the present. Analysts still expect Micron’s sales to roughly double next year. The stocks say the cycle is closer to its top than the forecasts admit. For Applied Materials, these are the buyers to watch: if they cut spending plans, its 2027 jump shrinks.
What Should You Ask Next?
- Applied Materials Stock At $371: Why Is It Half Price?
- Is 40% Crash Risk For Micron Stock Real?
- Why Chip Stocks Answer To Memory Prices, Not Congress
Booms like this one reward a plan for the peak. Get a second opinion on yours in a free 15-minute call with a Trefis partner firm.
For questions about this article or underlying research, email help@trefis.com.