NEW YORK, June 29, 2026, 11:05 EDT
- Micron dropped 7.6% to $1,046.06 in late-morning delayed trading, wiping out roughly $98 billion in market cap.
- The drop in market value was about the same as the $100 billion in minimum revenue Micron claims is linked to 14 out of its 16 strategic customer deals.
- Samsung Electronics KRX:005930 and SK Hynix KRX:000660 are laying out 800 trillion won—$518.30 billion—for chip fab projects in southwest South Korea.
Micron Technology, Inc. NASDAQ:MU dropped hard Monday, while the Nasdaq and NVIDIA Corp. NASDAQ:NVDA held up. Investors sold the stock after South Korea’s new memory chip capacity plans hit the wires, sparking worries about future pricing. The shares closed at $1,046.06, down $86.27 from Friday. By market cap and price drop, that wiped out roughly $98 billion in equity value.
That figure is key since Micron last week set a $100 billion minimum-revenue threshold on 14 of 16 of its customer supply agreements. The stock ended up getting cut by about one contract floor. Micron’s guide for the current quarter still has $50 billion in revenue and a gross margin near 86%.
Micron was lagging both the wider tech sector and most chip stocks, according to delayed quotes at 10:49 a.m. EDT. Percentage moves for the day are based on quoted prices.
| Security | Latest price | Day move | Read-through |
|---|---|---|---|
| Micron Technology, Inc. NASDAQ:MU | $1,046.06 | -7.6% | Traders hit memory stocks |
| Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 NASDAQ:QQQ | $711.26 | +0.7% | Stands in for Nasdaq |
| VanEck Semiconductor ETF NASDAQ:SMH | $608.56 | -0.5% | Tracks chips |
| iShares Semiconductor ETF NASDAQ:SOXX | $584.01 | -1.0% | Tracks chips |
| NVIDIA Corp. NASDAQ:NVDA | $193.67 | +0.6% | AI chip trade |
| SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust NYSEARCA:SPY | $736.73 | +1.1% | Market barometer |
South Korea is focusing on the supply side. Reuters said Samsung Electronics KRX:005930 and SK Hynix KRX:000660 both plan to set up two big chip fabs each in the southwest, tied to an 800 trillion won national chip plan. Samsung shares finished down 4.86% and SK Hynix lost 1.68% Monday, with some analysts flagging possible oversupply risk.
Timing isn’t straightforward. “It took us nine years for us to create a cluster in Yongin,” SK Hynix Chairman Chey Tae-won said. He said a chip factory needs “massive land, power, water and talent.” Reuters
That delay is what bulls are betting on at Micron. The Korean move is aimed at the cycle after this current shortage, but Micron is out front locking in take-or-pay deals with customers starting in 2026 and running through 2030. The company said its fixed price or price-capped contracts, set near current Q2 market levels, should cover around 40% of revenue once customer deals are signed.
Micron’s latest results show why the company has drawn a valuation topping $1 trillion, despite its reputation as a cyclical play. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra pointed to “record fiscal Q3 financial results and even stronger outlook for Q4” as evidence of memory’s “strategic value…in the AI era.” Mehrotra also said new multi-year customer deals should “enhance the durability and predictability” of its numbers. Micron Technology
| Micron metric | Latest figure | Comparison |
|---|---|---|
| Fiscal Q3 revenue | $41.46 billion | Was $23.86 billion in Q2, and $9.30 billion in prior year Q3 |
| GAAP gross margin | 84.6% | Came in at 74.4% last quarter; 37.7% a year ago |
| Operating cash flow | $25.39 billion | Generated $11.90 billion in Q2; $4.61 billion a year back |
| Adjusted free cash flow | $18.3 billion | Net capex was $7.1 billion |
| Fiscal Q4 revenue guide | $50.0 billion, plus or minus $1.0 billion | Company puts gross margin near 86% |
| Signed customer-agreement floor | About $100 billion | Includes 14 out of 16 agreements at min price |
It’s price, not volume, that stood out for the quarter. In the 10-Q, Micron said DRAM revenue climbed 67% from the prior period, mostly thanks to an average selling price jump in the low-60% range. Bit shipments saw only a slight lift in the low-single digits. NAND sales were up 99%, again mostly on a mid-80% average selling price increase. Bit shipments for NAND gained just mid-single digits.
The selloff was sharp because of that setup. If added capacity or pushback from customers slows average selling price growth before supply aligns, Micron’s margins near 85% look exposed—more than if revenue relied just on higher shipments. Micron has warned Q4 gross margins are modeled with a “meaningful moderation in the rate of price increases.”
Ben Barringer, who runs tech research at Quilter Cheviot, told Reuters last week that “greater supply visibility and continued tightness support pricing across the ecosystem.” Analysts at D.A. Davidson called it “a new era” for Micron and bumped their price target to $2,000, Reuters said. Reuters
Monday’s trading looks like the market isn’t giving the stock as much up front anymore. The contract floor helps cut down on some of the downcycle pain, but investors are still focused on what drove the earnings beat—prices moving up ahead of bit supply. Shares dropped 7.6% even as QQQ gained 0.7%. That tells the story.
Next up are cash deposits and RPO. CFO Mark Murphy said customer agreements so far have added about $100 billion in remaining performance obligations. He said revenue tied to those deals should end up higher than the RPO by the time they run out. Murphy also said about $18 billion of an expected $22 billion in commitments should be cash deposits, most of which should start showing in financing cash flow in the fiscal fourth quarter, not free cash flow.
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