New York, May 24, 2026, 14:03 (EDT)
Micron Technology starts this holiday-shortened week with shares giving back some ground after recent gains. The stock finished Friday at $751.00, down 1.46% for the session, though still up roughly 3.6% from last week’s close. Investors this week are weighing a fresh U.S. manufacturing achievement for the company against concerns that the AI-memory trade has maybe gone too far, too soon. Shares fell Monday before bouncing midweek.
Trouble is with the calendar. Nasdaq says U.S. equity markets are shut Monday for Memorial Day, so trading in Micron doesn’t pick up until Tuesday. Traders are likely to watch supply-chain headlines more than earnings first.
Micron is seen as a way to trade a tight memory market. High-bandwidth memory, or HBM, stacks chips to speed up data for AI processors. DRAM runs as fast working memory and NAND stores data even when shut down. Micron is one of three main HBM makers with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, according to Reuters in March.
Samsung is in focus in the short term. Some South Korean workers started voting Friday on a pay agreement after a government-led deal headed off an 18-day strike, but there were objections from non-memory staff. The vote stays open until 10 a.m. local time on May 27, according to Reuters.
Micron kicked off 1-alpha DRAM output at its Manassas, Virginia plant, putting the spotlight on its U.S. supply plans. The company said the launch was underway Friday. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, at the site, told reporters there was no immediate move for semiconductor tariffs but stressed the importance of future protections for reshoring.
Micron Technology said its Manassas site is getting a more than $2 billion expansion. The move will quadruple DDR4 wafer supply at the plant for auto, defense, aerospace, industrial, networking and medical-device clients. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra called it “advanced 1α DRAM manufacturing to American soil.” The company is working through an estimated $200 billion U.S. investment. Micron Technology
Financials are still strong. Micron posted fiscal Q2 revenue of $23.86 billion, with non-GAAP earnings at $12.20 per share in March. It now sees fiscal Q3 revenue at $33.5 billion, give or take $750 million, and non-GAAP earnings at $19.15 a share, plus or minus 40 cents. CEO Mehrotra at the time called “memory a strategic asset.” Micron Technology
Micron’s capital spending is going up as the chipmaker moves to keep up with demand. The company’s capex, or spending on plants and equipment, is on the rise. Ben Bajarin, CEO at Creative Strategies, told Reuters that the plan to spend more “makes sense,” since demand is strong and there are “no signs of easing any time soon.” Reuters
Nvidia kept pushing the demand story last week. The AI chip giant guided to second-quarter revenue of $91 billion, beating what Wall Street was looking for. Data-center revenue landed at $75.2 billion. Jacob Bourne, analyst at eMarketer, said the big thing now is whether Nvidia can keep that AI buildout steady into 2027 and 2028.
S&P 500 booked its eighth weekly win, with the Nasdaq Composite adding 0.19% to 26,343.97 on Friday. Chip stocks mostly traded higher, but Nvidia shares dropped 1.9%, according to Reuters.
Scarcity may already be fully factored in. If Samsung seals a deal, some supply-shock premium could disappear, and higher yields might hit stretched tech valuations. Micron’s ongoing factory investments might also hurt if memory prices ease before new capacity pays off. Reuters’ week-ahead said U.S. stocks face a harder time with inflation and bond yields in focus as earnings season ends.
Micron investors are watching Tuesday’s open after last week’s pullback. The focus isn’t just on one result this week, but the moves around it: Samsung’s decision, spending on Nvidia-driven AI, and the impact of interest rates on chip stocks.
Related articles: NASDAQ:MU
