Micron shares slide as AI demand defies memory cycle
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- Micron shares fell 3.5% in Thursday morning trading, marking its sixth consecutive daily decline.
- Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore argued the memory cycle is “anything but normal” because AI demand is durable and not driven by stockpiling.
- Micron raised its fiscal 2026 capital‑expenditure guidance to $25 billion from $20 billion, and expects further increases next year.
- Google announced a new compression algorithm that improves AI model storage efficiency, which some investors feared could reduce memory demand, but Moore said it would have limited impact on overall memory usage.
- OpenAI shut down its memory‑intensive AI‑video generator Sora, which Moore interpreted as a reallocation of compute resources rather than a sign of weakening demand.
- Sandisk shares fell 0.21% and are on track for a fifth straight daily drop, mirroring Micron’s broader sector weakness.
Why it matters: Micron’s stock dip reflects investor anxiety over a potential memory oversupply, yet Moore’s claim that AI demand will stay robust implies the company’s higher capex could preserve pricing power. Meanwhile, AI players like Google and OpenAI may see limited impact from efficiency tweaks, while Sandisk mirrors the broader sector weakness.
