Micron Technology shares surged 11% on Tuesday, pushing the memory chipmaker’s market capitalization past $700 billion for the first time and placing it among the top 10 most valuable U.S. tech companies. The stock closed at $640.20, giving Micron a market value of roughly $722 billion, according to Barron’s. The company’s shares have risen 124% year-to-date and approximately 700% over the past 12 months.
AI’s Insatiable Appetite for Memory
The rally was driven by relentless AI-fueled demand for memory chips that has left the industry unable to keep pace. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said in a recent CNBC interview that “AI is in very early innings” and that the sector will require substantially more memory as it develops. Mehrotra emphasized that memory supply “cannot keep up” with demand, a reality already reflected in the company’s results.
The supply crunch has left even Micron’s largest customers receiving only 50% to two-thirds of their memory requirements, according to Techerati, citing the company’s recent earnings guidance. Micron has sold out its entire 2026 supply of high-bandwidth memory and does not expect conditions to ease before 2028, given the time required to build new fabrication plants. Samsung has projected similar shortages through at least 2028, while SK Hynix has warned the crisis could extend to 2030.
Record SSD Launch Targets Data Centers
Coinciding with the stock surge, Micron announced on Tuesday that it has begun shipping the 245TB Micron 6600 ION SSD, the world’s highest-capacity commercially available solid-state drive. Built on Micron’s G9 QLC NAND technology, the drive delivers nearly a quarter-petabyte of usable storage in a single unit and requires 82% fewer racks than equivalent HDD-based deployments. The drive is available in E3.L and U.2 form factors and targets hyperscale, cloud, and enterprise data center operators.
Broader Memory Sector Rallies
Micron did not rally alone. SanDisk shares rose roughly 10% in the same session as investors bid up memory stocks broadly. AMD reported 38% year-over-year revenue growth for Q1 2026 earlier in the week, which triggered a wider semiconductor rally and reinforced confidence in the demand environment for memory suppliers. DA Davidson, which holds one of the Street’s most bullish calls on Micron with a $1,000 price target, told investors that the market is “underestimating Micron’s demand environment”.
