Micron Surges 8% on Memory-Chip Shortage
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- Micron Technology stock rose 8.1% to $1,061.30 in early Monday trading, fueled by a resurgence in the AI trade and mounting signs of a memory-chip supply crunch.
- Micron shares have climbed more than 700% over the past 12 months, even as the stock trades at a forward P/E of 9.74 — far below the Nasdaq Composite's 25.5, per FactSet.
- Xbox CEO Asha Sharma publicly warned of a 'hardware component crisis' in a memo last week, saying memory costs have risen roughly fivefold over the past two years and Microsoft cannot make as many consoles as consumers want.
- Wedbush analyst Matt Bryson called the Xbox warning proof that the memory squeeze has spread from PCs and phones into fixed-bill-of-materials devices, reinforcing his 'structural shortage through 2027+' thesis.
- Goldman Sachs analysts are wary of Micron stock ahead of the company's earnings report later this month, per a separate Barron's piece.
- Markets were also broadly cheered by the prospect of a U.S.-Iran peace deal, which Barron's flags as a tailwind for the session's risk-on tone.
Why it matters: Micron's 9.74 forward P/E versus the Nasdaq's 25.5 is the story: investors are repricing the memory maker as a structural AI beneficiary rather than a boom-bust commodity play, with a 700% 12-month gain reflecting that shift. The Xbox warning — a platform holder publicly rationing hardware because of memory costs — is the kind of mainstream confirmation that historically ends 'is this real?' debates among skeptics.
