New York, May 16, 2026, 14:03 EDT
- Silicon Motion ended Friday at $259.99 in U.S. trading, off 1.5% for the session. The shares gained around 2.5% this week.
- Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.5% Friday, ending the week down 0.1% as tech and AI-related stocks lost steam.
- Company events line up this week for investors, as Silicon Motion is set to appear at J.P. Morgan and B. Riley conferences on May 19 and May 20.
Shares of Silicon Motion Technology (Nasdaq) held most of their gains from an earnings rally last week, even as U.S. tech stocks slid sharply on Friday. The NAND flash controller company stayed close to its highs for the month.
AI chip stocks aren’t going straight up anymore. U.S. equities finished lower Friday with bond yields rising and fresh inflation concerns. The Nasdaq ended its six-week winning run, according to Reuters. “The market had gotten way ahead of itself,” Slatestone Wealth’s Kenny Polcari told Reuters. Reuters
Silicon Motion ended Friday at $259.99. Shares traded as high as $273.90 on Wednesday before sellers weighed in by the end of the week. The company supplies controller chips for NAND flash, which keeps data when devices are powered down.
Silicon Motion’s first-quarter numbers are still driving the shares. The company reported April 28 that net sales jumped 23% from the previous quarter and 105% year-on-year to $342.1 million. Non-GAAP gross margin was 47.2%. Second-quarter revenue is expected between $393 million and $411 million.
Chief Executive Wallace Kou said results topped the company’s own outlook for revenue, gross margin and operating margin. He pointed to demand for embedded eMMC and UFS controllers, Ferri products in auto markets and enterprise boot drives tied to an AI infrastructure buyer. Kou also said MonTitan would start volume production this quarter.
Roth MKM’s Sujeeva De Silva bumped his target up to $250 from $140 and kept a Buy after what he called a “very strong first quarter,” according to Cantech Letter. B. Riley made its own move, taking its target to $312 from $250 and also kept a Buy. The firm pointed to faster AI spending, rising hyperscaler demand, and tighter semiconductor supply-demand. Cantech Letter
Competition is tougher. Silicon Motion lists Microchip and Phison as rivals in its annual report, as well as customer in-house controller teams and smaller Chinese suppliers. So, it’s relying on new products like PCIe 5 controllers — PCIe connects parts inside computers and servers — to keep its designs winning as enterprise storage demand changes.
Investors this week are watching for news about the MonTitan ramp, customer schedules, and margins as Silicon Motion heads to the J.P. Morgan technology conference on May 19 and B. Riley’s investor event on May 20. The company is set to pay a $0.50 per ADS dividend on May 21. An ADS is a U.S.-traded receipt for foreign shares.
But the trade isn’t solid. Silicon Motion cautions that numbers can shift if customer inventory moves, NAND supply and pricing change, price pressure increases, product mix moves around or customers make their own controllers. If Treasury yields keep climbing or valuations tied to AI chips keep dropping, strong operating updates might not push the shares up much.
Right now, the stock is stuck between a solid earnings story and a market that’s started hitting popular semiconductor plays. This week, management has to give investors enough detail to justify the move.
