Memory and semiconductor stocks lose momentum, bitcoin rebounds in sign of changing investor focus
Get the Finance newsletter
Daily finance — markets, central banks, M&A, the prints that move money. Free.
- Sandisk (SNDK) surged over 530% and Micron Technology (MU) climbed more than 230% in 2026, making memory and semiconductor stocks the standout equity winners on AI infrastructure demand.
- The Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) fell roughly 25% from its June 22 peak and the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) dropped 12%, after more than doubling and climbing 60% respectively through H1; bitcoin rebounded from below $58,000 on July 1 back above $61,000.
- BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) — the largest bitcoin ETF — dropped 30% year-to-date, in line with bitcoin's slide, before the recent bounce.
- Meta Platforms is building a "Meta Compute" unit to sell excess GPU capacity to third parties, per Bloomberg — a development that accelerated selling pressure across AI-compute stocks.
- IREN, Cipher Digital (CIFR), and TerraWulf (WULF) — former bitcoin miners pivoted to GPU hosting and high-performance computing — each fell at least 20% from their all-time highs following Meta's reported move.
- The source calls it too early for a sustained rotation but frames the simultaneous pullback in semiconductor leaders and bitcoin's rebound as potentially the first indication of capital rebalancing back toward digital assets.
Why it matters: Meta's reported Meta Compute unit directly threatens neocloud providers like IREN, Cipher Digital, and TerraWulf — former bitcoin miners now in GPU hosting — each of which has fallen at least 20% from highs, suggesting the AI-infrastructure trade that sidelined crypto all year may be losing its hold on investor capital.
