NEW YORK, March 20, 2026, 10:06 EDT
Shares of Micron Technology slipped 0.4% to $442.65 early Friday in New York, stretching out a post-earnings decline after a record quarter and upbeat outlook met with investor jitters over a steep increase in capital expenditures. The stock had already dropped 3.8% on Thursday.
This shift is significant: Micron now stands as something of a bellwether for the AI hardware ramp-up. The company is among just three heavyweights providing high-bandwidth memory—HBM chips essential for shuttling data to AI processors. The other two? Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.
Micron is projecting fiscal third-quarter revenue of $33.5 billion, give or take $750 million, a figure that crushes the $24.29 billion consensus from LSEG. Gross margin is now expected at roughly 81%. For the second quarter, revenue landed at $23.86 billion, with adjusted earnings of $12.20 per share. The board also approved a 30% hike in the quarterly dividend, bringing it up to 15 cents.
Demand isn’t the issue. What’s grabbing attention is Micron’s ramped-up spending plans. The company is now projecting capital expenditures above $25 billion for fiscal 2026, with another bump coming in 2027. Most of the outlay is earmarked for more cleanroom capacity and new equipment—primarily at Tongluo in Taiwan, plus U.S. chip-plant expansions.
Chief Business Officer Sumit Sadana pointed to construction work fueling what’s become a “very significant increase” in capex. JonesTrading’s chief market strategist, Mike O’Rourke, noted that the stepped-up spending only strengthens the argument that the current memory shortage may not last, with new supply expected when additional capacity comes online. Reuters
Ben Bajarin, chief executive at Creative Strategies, pushed back, arguing the increased spending “makes sense” with demand showing “no signs of easing any time soon.” But on the flip side, Deutsche Bank analyst Melissa Weathers flagged rising investor caution, pointing to Micron’s growing capex and questions about how long memory pricing can hold up. MarketWatch
Mizuho’s Jordan Klein and Morgan Stanley’s Joseph Moore see Thursday’s slide as investors signaling doubts about how long Micron’s margins can stay elevated. Still, at least 17 analysts boosted their price targets after the results, according to Investor’s Business Daily—Barclays now sits at $675, JPMorgan at $550, and Morgan Stanley at $520.
Micron isn’t mincing words. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra called memory a “strategic asset” for this AI era, saying the company is pouring money into its production footprint to keep up. Right now, though, the stock comes down to a basic call: does all this investment keep supply tight, or does it break the balance? Micron Technology
