New York, Feb 24, 2026, 10:10 EST — Regular session
- Micron shares climb roughly 1.5% in early trading, picking up on strength across the semiconductor space.
- All eyes are now on Nvidia’s earnings due Wednesday, with attention shifting to those massive AI hardware deals.
- Tariff worries linger over the tape following Monday’s selloff.
Micron Technology Inc picked up roughly 1.5%, reaching $427.08 early Tuesday, bouncing back after U.S. stocks took a hit from tariffs the previous day. Shares have already soared about 50% since the start of the year—investors aren’t exactly forgiving when it comes to negative headlines. (Finviz)
Micron finds itself right at the center of the memory chip crunch that’s hitting AI server supply. For traders, the stock has become a go-to proxy: a liquid bet on whether Big Tech’s appetite for spending will power through 2026, or if the momentum is beginning to slip.
Little action on Wall Street just after the bell. As of 9:31 a.m. ET, the Dow hovered near the unchanged mark, S&P 500 slipped 0.1%, and the Nasdaq barely budged, according to Reuters data. (Reuters)
A renewed sense of optimism around chips got a boost after AMD announced it could sell as much as $60 billion in AI semiconductors to Meta Platforms over five years. The deal hands Meta the right to carve out a significant equity position as well. “Meta is locking in supply,” Hargreaves Lansdown’s senior equity analyst Matt Britzman said. (Reuters)
Micron investors are working a simple equation, but the clock isn’t always clear: ramp up AI processors, and memory demand jumps too. High-bandwidth memory—HBM for short—sits right at the heart of the action. This stacked, high-speed DRAM rides next to cutting-edge AI chips, pushing data faster, and right now it’s among the most constrained parts of the supply chain.
Nvidia’s Wednesday earnings loom large, with traders watching closely to gauge if profit and demand are still stacking up fast enough to justify stretched valuations. “People are so concerned about AI spending — whether we’re in a bubble,” Spear Invest CIO Ivana Delevska told Reuters. Supply issues could also cap any upside, Seaport Research Partners’ Jay Goldberg warned. (Reuters)
Even so, Micron isn’t isolated. Fresh U.S. tariffs, along with the ongoing legal tussles over them, have nudged investors toward a more cautious stance—pulling back positions rather than waiting for clarity. “Uncertainty remains high,” Nationwide chief market strategist Mark Hackett said following Monday’s drop. (Reuters)
This is key in memory, a notoriously cyclical business where prices reverse fast if demand softens. Should AI capex stall or customers slow their rollouts, the margin tailwind from tight supply can vanish, and the stock could get hit just as quickly.
Micron faces its own execution challenges, regardless of broader market strength. Rivals like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix keep ramping up their AI memory efforts, so if Micron stumbles on adoption rates or if supply ticks higher, expectations could shift quickly.
Eyes now turn to Nvidia’s numbers dropping Wednesday, with the company’s call expected to fuel the back-and-forth over AI demand, supply-chain issues, and where chips go from here as spring approaches. Nvidia has scheduled its quarterly results discussion for Feb. 25, 5 p.m. ET. (nvidianews.nvidia.com)
