New York, Jan 8, 2026, 10:47 EST — Regular session
Micron Technology shares fell about 3.3% in morning trading on Thursday, retreating after an early spike that briefly pushed the stock to a fresh intraday high. The stock was down $11.20 at $328.36 after opening at $343.00.
The move cools a rally that has made memory and data-storage names some of the market’s early winners in 2026. Micron jumped 10% on Tuesday to a record high after Nvidia boss Jensen Huang, speaking at CES in Las Vegas, detailed a new layer of storage technology, lifting related stocks including Western Digital and Seagate Technology. 1
Micron added its own headline on Wednesday, when it set Jan. 16 as the groundbreaking date for its planned megafab in Onondaga County, New York, a $100 billion project it calls the largest semiconductor manufacturing facility in U.S. history. “Breaking ground at Micron’s New York megafab is a pivotal moment for Micron and the United States,” Chief Executive Sanjay Mehrotra said. 2
Earlier in the week, Micron launched its 3610 NVMe solid-state drive for client devices, saying it is the first PCIe Gen5 G9 QLC SSD for mainstream PCs and ultra-thin laptops. PCIe Gen5 is a faster interface for connecting storage inside a PC, while QLC (quad-level cell) NAND stores more data per memory cell but can trade off on endurance. “The 3610 will enable ultra-thin devices that meet the growing demands of on-device AI, immersive streaming and performance-intensive workloads,” Mark Montierth, a senior vice president at Micron, said. 3
Outside the company, a read-through from Samsung Electronics also kept memory pricing in focus. Samsung on Wednesday projected a record quarterly operating profit as demand for memory chips used in AI systems pushed prices higher, with further gains expected; high-bandwidth memory (HBM), stacked chips used alongside AI processors, has been a key battleground. Samsung is due to publish detailed results on Jan. 29. 4
Even with those tailwinds, traders were wary of adding risk ahead of the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report on Friday, a monthly jobs report that can shift interest-rate expectations quickly. Wall Street opened lower, and high-flying tech and chip shares were among the pockets that gave back ground. 5
But the memory business still runs in cycles. Any hit to AI server spending, or a faster-than-expected supply response from the big chipmakers, can turn tight markets into gluts and compress margins.
