New York, Jan 28, 2026, 17:47 EST — After-hours
- After a volatile regular session, Micron shares jumped 6.1% in extended trading
- Micron is moving forward with its Singapore expansion, targeting NAND production starting in 2028
- Traders are now focused on whether the chip-driven rally can sustain momentum following strong tech earnings and a steady Fed
Micron Technology shares gained 6.1%, closing at $435.28 in after-hours trading Wednesday. The stock fluctuated between $417.31 and $446.93 throughout the session, with roughly 41.8 million shares changing hands.
The recent surge in the stock is significant since memory chips are central to the AI rollout, with investors interpreting supply cues as immediate pricing indicators. The market is betting that tight supply conditions will persist longer this cycle.
Chipmakers took on a heavier load on Wall Street after the Federal Reserve held rates steady, with investors eyeing the first “Magnificent Seven” earnings reports after the close. Micron climbed roughly 6% during regular trading, Intel surged 11%, and Nvidia gained 1.6%. “Whether you were bullish or bearish going into the press conference you walked away feeling about the same,” said Michael James, an equity sales trader at Rosenblatt Securities. 1
Micron revealed on Tuesday plans to pour roughly $24 billion into a new advanced wafer fab in Singapore over the next ten years, where it already churns out 98% of its flash memory chips. The facility will focus on NAND flash memory used in storage, with wafer production expected to kick off in the latter half of 2028. The company also confirmed its $7 billion high-bandwidth memory (HBM) packaging plant in Singapore is still set to begin operations in 2027. Analyst Bryan Ao from TrendForce noted that demand for high-performance storage “has been growing much faster than expected,” predicting enterprise solid-state drive contract prices to jump 55% to 60% as supply struggles to keep pace. 2
Micron announced this week it has broken ground on its Singapore site, calling it the city-state’s first double-story wafer fab. The cleanroom area is expected to reach about 700,000 square feet. “Micron’s leadership in advanced memory and storage is enabling the AI-driven transformation reshaping the global economy,” said Manish Bhatia, Micron’s executive vice president of global operations. The expansion is set to create roughly 1,600 jobs, in addition to 1,400 roles connected to the HBM packaging facility. 3
Investors face a tricky balance: a hefty, multi-year spending plan paired with a vow of caution. Micron has emphasized linking ramp speed directly to demand, a sensitive issue in an industry notorious for overexpansion.
Competitive pressure is clear. Samsung and SK Hynix are ramping up capacity as well, while HBM — the high-speed memory stacked alongside AI processors — has turned into the key battleground that shapes the broader memory market.
The downside is straightforward to outline. If AI server spending falters or cloud clients hold back, contract prices could drop sharply, and “tight” markets might ease quicker than factory schedules imply. Execution risk looms too: big fabs don’t spring up overnight, and delays or cost overruns can shift the payoff calculations.
Thursday’s trading will reveal if Wednesday’s chip rally was just a quick burst or the start of a more sustained move, with investors weighing late-day earnings responses from major tech players. Micron’s next key event is its quarterly earnings report, scheduled by Nasdaq for March 19. 4
