New York, February 18, 2026, 17:17 EST — After-hours
- Micron shares were up about 5% in extended trade, last at $420.95.
- Needham lifted its price target to $450 from $380, keeping a Buy rating.
- Investors are watching HBM supply, pricing and the next earnings update in March.
Micron Technology Inc (MU.O) shares climbed 5.3% in after-hours trading on Wednesday to $420.95, after swinging between $395.30 and $427.78 during the session. Trading volume was about 32 million shares.
The move matters because memory has become a choke point for the AI buildout, and investors are trying to pin down how long pricing stays firm. High-bandwidth memory, or HBM, is a stacked form of DRAM that sits close to AI processors to move data faster, and shortages there can ripple through the rest of the chip supply chain.
A Wall Street Journal report on Tuesday put fresh attention on Micron’s capacity push, detailing a $200 billion U.S. expansion tied to data-center demand. The report said Micron is spending $50 billion in Boise, Idaho, to build two new fabs, with first wafers expected in mid-2027, and it recently broke ground on a $100 billion fab complex near Syracuse, New York. “I’ve never seen anything so disruptive as AI,” said Scott Gatzemeier, a Micron vice president leading the expansion, according to the report. (mint)
Analyst notes also added fuel. Needham analyst N. Quinn Bolton raised his price target on Micron to $450 from $380 and reiterated a Buy rating, citing a market “continuing to tighten” with pricing moving “meaningfully higher,” and pointing to hyperscaler capital spending as a driver. (TipRanks)
Micron’s rise came as AI-linked stocks steadied more broadly. Nvidia (NVDA.O) gained after it said it signed a multi-year deal to sell millions of AI chips to Meta Platforms (META.O), helping lift the Nasdaq. “Weakness in tech was bound to bring in the marginal buyer,” Ross Mayfield, an investment strategy analyst at Baird, said. (Reuters)
Positioning looks active, too. A Barron’s report said hedge fund Appaloosa Management increased its Micron stake in the fourth quarter, adding about 1 million shares to bring the holding to about 1.5 million shares, a filing showed. (Barron’s)
Micron sits in a three-way race with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix for share in high-end memory used in AI servers. Any hint that supply is catching up faster than expected can hit pricing quickly; if supply stays tight, the leverage works the other way.
HBM is not just another memory part. It needs advanced packaging and tight manufacturing tolerances, which makes capacity harder to add in a hurry, and gives suppliers more room to push for longer contracts and firmer pricing.
But the risks are familiar. A buildout measured in tens of billions can pressure cash flow, and memory demand is cyclical. If AI data-center spending cools or rivals bring on capacity faster than Micron expects, pricing could soften into the very moment new fabs start ramping.
For the next session, traders will be watching whether the post-close gains stick once the early burst of AI enthusiasm fades and the market refocuses on rates and growth.
Next up is Micron’s quarterly report, scheduled for March 18 after the close, according to Yahoo Finance’s earnings calendar. Investors will be looking for updates on HBM shipments, contract pricing and the spending pace behind Micron’s capacity plans. (Yahoo)
