Micron Jumps 12% as Memory Chips Snap Back

Micron Technology climbed 12.2% on Tuesday to close at $970.82, leading a sharp rebound in memory and storage stocks after three straight down sessions for the group. The push higher followed an upbeat Bank of America note and a Morgan Stanley call that memory prices still have room to rise. Buyers came back in force.

Wall Street called the pullback a reset

The rally had a clear source. Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore told clients the recent slide in memory names looked like a buying opportunity, forecasting that data-center memory prices could climb at least 25% from the second quarter to the third. His channel checks, he wrote, showed no easing in the supply crunch, with shortages likely to persist into 2027 and 2028. Bank of America struck a similarly constructive tone in its own note on Micron.

They were not alone. Strategists at JPMorgan and UBS argued the sell-off in AI and chip stocks had reached a late stage rather than the start of something worse. The result was a broad bid across the complex. Storage and memory peers rose together, and within the large-cap names Bellwize covers the strength ran wide: Intel added 8.6% and Advanced Micro Devices rose 8.1% on the same session. Strong export figures out of South Korea, a barometer for memory shipments, reinforced the read that AI demand has not cooled.

Still a fifth below its spring high

For all the enthusiasm, Micron has ground to recover. The stock remains down 14.4% over the past 30 days, so Tuesday’s jump clawed back part of a monthly slide without erasing it. It closed 20% below its 90-day high of $1,213.56, though still more than triple its 90-day low of $321.80.

One detail stood out. The 12% move came on lighter trading, about 49.4 million shares against a 20-day average near 52.1 million. Big up-days usually run hot on volume. This one did not, which points to shifting sentiment doing more of the work than a wave of fresh buyers.

The backdrop helps explain the swing. Memory has been the sharp end of the AI trade all year, prone to fast drawdowns and faster recoveries as investors reprice how long the shortage lasts. Micron has said its high-bandwidth memory output is effectively sold out through 2026, and Bank of America expects that supply to stay tight through at least 2027. Analysts now debate how much of the pricing upside is already in the stock. Bulls point to a shortage with no clear end and to the multiyear customer contracts Micron has signed to lock in demand. Skeptics counter that a supply response usually follows prices this high, and that the last two memory cycles both turned when the shortage narrative looked most secure. Tuesday’s move was a vote for the bulls.

Intel reports Thursday

Intel goes first. The chipmaker is due to report second-quarter results after the close on Thursday, July 23, one of the first major chip earnings of the season and an early read on the demand picture memory makers depend on. The pricing figures the analysts sketched this week will be measured against what the group’s results actually show in the weeks ahead.

This is a general-market summary for information only — not investment advice, and not a recommendation regarding any security.