Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) was the top traded stock by volume on Friday, closing 6.90% lower at $373.29 billion in trading volume. The stock declined as investors took profits following a week of gains, while increasing competition from Chinese memory chip manufacturers added pressure.
Earlier in the week, Micron Technology had rallied sharply after Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed during the company's second-quarter earnings call that the automaker secured a large supply of memory chips from Micron on favorable terms. However, those gains were reversed as traders reassessed the outlook for the memory chip market.
Chinese memory producers are continuing to expand their market share, raising questions about the future competitive landscape for server memory. Additionally, some bearish analyst commentary pointed to potential weakness in DRAM pricing as AI computing costs evolve.
Despite the pullback following recent gains, Wall Street analysts remain broadly optimistic about the company's long-term prospects.
NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) ranked second, closing 0.92% lower with $237.34 billion in trading volume. To address the explosive growth in AI infrastructure demand and strengthen the U.S. semiconductor supply chain, the chip giant signed a multi-year strategic partnership valued at $1.5 billion with packaging and testing firm Amkor Technology.
Under the agreement, NVIDIA will provide Amkor with an upfront payment to support the expansion of advanced packaging and testing capacity in the U.S., particularly in Arizona. The two companies will jointly develop advanced packaging technologies for next-generation AI and accelerated computing platforms, focusing on key areas such as high-density interconnects and heterogeneous integration. The goal is to integrate different types of chips into a single package to enhance the performance and energy efficiency of AI processors.
Advanced packaging has become a critical bottleneck for AI chip performance and delivery. With TSMC's CoWoS capacity under strain, this partnership represents another strategic move by NVIDIA to secure its AI processor shipments, following earlier agreements for memory and glass substrate supplies.
SanDisk (NASDAQ: WDC) ranked third, closing 10.79% lower with $204.37 billion in trading volume. Analyst Mehdi Hosseini from Susquehanna lowered the price target for SanDisk from $3,250 to $3,050 while maintaining a "Buy" rating. The new target still implies approximately 80% upside from the current share price.
Hosseini attributed the target reduction to corrections in revenue and earnings per share estimates from the company's financial model. Furthermore, uncertainty remains around storage architecture for AI inference applications. If AI companies adopt KV Cache offloading, enterprise SSD demand could surge; conversely, if reliance on DRAM/HBM continues, demand for SanDisk's flagship products would be lower than expected.
Despite the reduced target, Wall Street's overall rating for SanDisk remains "Strong Buy," with an average target price of approximately $2,368, suggesting more than 40% upside over the next 12 months. Of the 24 analysts tracked by FactSet, 21 gave "Buy" or "Strong Buy" ratings.
Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA) ranked fourth, closing 2.08% lower with $194.12 billion in trading volume. Tesla closed at $313.03 on Friday, tumbling nearly 18% for the week, marking its worst weekly performance since 2022.
Famed investor Michael Burry revealed he is increasing his bearish bets on several tech stocks, adding short positions in NVIDIA and the VanEck Semiconductor ETF, while insisting he has not closed his profitable short position on Tesla.
Burry, known globally for accurately predicting and shorting the 2008 U.S. subprime mortgage crisis and serving as the inspiration for the protagonist in the Oscar-winning film "The Big Short," wrote in a new Substack post on Friday, "I haven't covered my Tesla short. It's getting smaller by itself."
The electric vehicle maker's shares plummeted 15% on Thursday following disappointing quarterly earnings. Burry had stated in late June that he shorted Tesla at a price of $416.22.
Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) ranked fifth, closing 7.89% lower with $172.38 billion in trading volume. Intel reported second-quarter earnings on Thursday, with total revenue of $16.1 billion and adjusted earnings per share of 42 cents, both exceeding market expectations. This marked the largest single-quarter revenue increase in nearly 15 years, and the company's third-quarter guidance also topped analyst estimates.
The AI computing infrastructure boom boosted server processor sales, with data center revenue surging 59% to $6.3 billion. PC business revenue rose 13% year-over-year to $8.9 billion. The company has now secured 10 long-term supply agreements, with production capacity under strain. Foundry business revenue jumped 31% year-over-year to $5.8 billion, while gross margins recovered to 42% from 2.5% a year earlier. Despite the strong results, Intel shares declined on Friday and are down 28% in July, though the stock remains up over 170% year-to-date.
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) ranked sixth, closing 3.53% higher with $156.64 billion in trading volume. A recent report from market research firm Counterpoint Research indicates the foldable smartphone market is expected to see a major turning point in 2026, with Apple launching its first foldable iPhone that year. The firm predicts Apple could quickly capture 25% of the market in its first year, becoming a key force reshaping the competitive landscape.
Additionally, market sources suggest Apple is developing a next-generation MacBook Neo featuring the A19 Pro chip. Performance-wise, the A19 Pro is approximately 10-15% faster than the A18 Pro in single-core and multi-core CPU tests. Reports indicate even more significant GPU performance improvements, with benchmark tests showing a performance boost of up to 40%.
Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) ranked seventh, closing 3.29% lower with $142.99 billion in trading volume. On Friday, Bank of America Global Research raised its price target for AMD from $560 to $620.
SpaceX ranked 13th, closing 2.68% lower with $61.04 billion in trading volume. The stock declined 7.19% for the week, marking its third consecutive weekly loss.
Morgan Stanley analysts noted that recent selling pressure has pushed SpaceX's stock price to a level near zero valuation for its artificial intelligence business. The firm believes the current disconnect between market pessimism and the company's fundamentals presents an attractive entry point for investors.
Since its record-breaking $86 billion initial public offering (IPO) in mid-June, SpaceX shares have been under pressure. After an initial short-lived surge, the stock has steadily declined, hitting a low of $110.85 earlier this week, down 18% from its IPO price.
In a research note published on July 25, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas highlighted that many investors expect SpaceX shares could fall further to $100 per share when the first lock-up period expires next month. He pointed out that if the stock reaches that level, investors would be not only ignoring the value of its AI business but even assigning a negative valuation.
Jonas reiterated an "Overweight" rating on SpaceX and maintained a $300 price target. In his sum-of-the-parts valuation, over 50% of the company's valuation comes from its AI business. He noted that most investors are applying a significant discount to SpaceX's AI assets, including Grok and Cursor, primarily due to concerns over high AI capital expenditures, uncertain economic benefits, and the need for significant management attention.
Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO) ranked 15th, closing 2.69% lower with $55.91 billion in trading volume. Major Wall Street banks have begun trading the initial portion of a $35 billion financing package intended for AI infrastructure expansion by Broadcom and Anthropic PBC. This marks the opening of what is believed to be the largest private credit transaction ever to a broader group of investors.
According to sources, several banks, including Bank of America and Morgan Stanley, have been trading parts of the debt over the past week. These banks are part of a $24 billion joint syndication team within the overall debt package.
Other anonymous sources revealed that Apollo Global Management has also been marketing the debt to institutional investors. The firm, in partnership with Blackstone, arranged the $35 billion financing package for the borrower, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) responsible for purchasing custom chips developed by Google and Broadcom and leasing them to Anthropic.
NBIS ranked 17th, closing 15.02% lower with $47.08 billion in trading volume. NVIDIA filed a Schedule 13G with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this week, disclosing beneficial ownership of 22,256,400 Class A ordinary shares of Nebius, representing a 9.3% stake. The filing shows these shares include 1,190,500 common shares previously reported by NVIDIA in its 13F filing for the quarter ended March 31, as well as 21,065,900 shares convertible from a prepaid warrant.
Meanwhile, Northland raised its price target for Nebius from $248 to $410, maintaining an "Outperform" rating with potential upside of over 124%. The firm uses a valuation framework similar to CoreWeave (CRWV.US) and expects Nebius to capture approximately 14% market share in the $800 billion AI-as-a-Service (AIaaS) market over the long term, with a terminal free cash flow margin estimated at 30%.
SK Hynix ranked 20th, closing 8.81% lower with $40.21 billion in trading volume. South Korean semiconductor giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are preparing to announce major AI cooperation agreements in Silicon Valley, involving long-term supply contracts for High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) chips and AI data center investments. These agreements are expected to be finalized during South Korean President Lee Jae-myung's visit to San Francisco for an AI summit.
Comments