New York, April 6, 2026, 12:20 EDT
Micron Technology shares gained 3.8% to $380.29 on Monday, though the uptick barely dented weeks of selling pressure. The chipmaker is still facing headwinds, not least from a fresh threat: Bloomberg said SK Hynix has filed paperwork to list ADRs in the U.S.—a move that could bring in up to $10 billion and hand American investors another way to tap the global memory market. 1
The timing is notable. Micron stands out right now as one of Wall Street’s sharpest AI memory plays. Last month, Reuters said SK Hynix was weighing a U.S. ADR listing to raise between 10 trillion and 15 trillion won—roughly $10 billion. The cash would go toward boosting advanced-memory output, potentially closing the valuation gap with names like Micron. 2
On paper, Micron’s numbers remain solid. The chipmaker put out a third-quarter revenue forecast of $33.5 billion—well ahead of the $24.29 billion analysts were expecting. Second-quarter revenue jumped, too, reaching $23.86 billion. Micron, along with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, dominates the supply of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) that powers AI systems. Creative Strategies CEO Ben Bajarin called the higher capex outlook logical, saying it “makes sense, given the shape of the demand.” 3
Barron’s says KeyBanc’s John Vinh stuck with his Overweight call and a $600 target on Monday. Vinh sees DRAM and NAND memory chip prices jumping 30% to 50% in Q2. He pointed to stricter long-term supply contracts, suggesting these might smooth out the usual cycle swings—but flagged that more price hikes could start to hit PC and smartphone demand. 4
Sentiment turned fast. Micron soared nearly 50% in January—second-best in the S&P 500, according to Bloomberg Law. But fresh worries over the memory sector and market jitters linked to the Iran war have pulled the stock down in recent weeks. 5
Even the tone on Micron has shifted a bit. On Sunday, Seeking Alpha’s Julian Lin lifted his rating to neutral from sell, pointing to 196% revenue growth from a year earlier, a 75% gross margin, and management’s expectation that DRAM and NAND supply stays tight past 2026. He still flagged memory’s cycles as a ceiling for the bull case. 6
The industry’s holding up strong. Samsung looks set to notch a record first-quarter operating profit—roughly 40.5 trillion won—as chip prices stay hot. Ko Yeongmin at Daol Investment & Securities put it bluntly: “You couldn’t ask for things to be better.” Memory market demand, so far, hasn’t flinched. 7
The trade is no longer a simple bet in one direction. Micron bumped up its fiscal 2026 capital expenditures by $5 billion to over $25 billion, reigniting concerns that fresh supply could drag memory prices back down toward commodity levels. Citi lowered its Micron price target last week to $425 from $510, after a 6% decline in mainstream DDR5 prices and doubts around Google’s TurboQuant potentially hitting memory demand. “Micron increased its capex forecast to continue to add production capacity. That reinforces the belief that the memory shortage is a temporary phenomenon,” said Mike O’Rourke at JonesTrading. 8
SK Hynix isn’t ready to lock in details on its U.S. deal just yet. The company is targeting a U.S. listing in 2026, though it hasn’t determined “the size, structure, and timeline of the offering.” CEO Kwak Noh-jung frames the move as a push to see the company’s value reconsidered by investors on the world’s biggest equity stage. 9
