Micron Technology stock was falling early Monday. The memory-chip company looked to be hit by worries that increased investment in production by rivals would eventually drag down prices for its hardware.
The shares were down 5.1% at $929.32 in premarket trading. That was adding to a 1.2% slip on Friday.
The move was in line with peers -- especially South Korean memory-chip company SK Hynix, which was falling more than 8% in the U.S. premarket after its blockbuster listing of American depositary receipts on Friday. Barron's has written positively about the ADRs, suggesting they offer a cheaper way to play the memory-chip boom than Micron.
Investors looked to be nervy about the prospects for continued gains for memory companies, which have surged over the past year.
One particular concern is about the race between memory companies to ramp up production capacity. Samsung Electronics said Monday that it would speed up construction of its Yongin semiconductor cluster in South Korea, now expecting mass production by 2029. That is one-to-two years ahead of previous expectations.
Last month, SK Hynix and Samsung pledged to spend a combined 800 trillion won ($536 billion) to build new chip-making hubs in southwest Korea, according to the country's industry minister. Micron itself said last week it would raise its U.S. investment plans to $250 billion from $200 billion previously.
Such announcements bring up bad memories for memory-chip investors. The industry is historically cyclical: periods of undersupply are followed by oversupply. Stock prices follow the same pattern, appearing cheap during upswings before crashing when hardware gluts emerge.
However, the increased capacity still might not cover the increased demand for memory caused by artificial-intelligence technology.
"Headlines announcing tens of billions of dollars of new investment should not be interpreted as evidence that supply conditions are about to normalize," wrote Brad Gastwirth, global head of research and market intelligence at Circular Technologies, in a research note. "Those investments are absolutely necessary, but they are largely supporting demand growth that continues to accelerate rather than creating excess capacity."
Gastwirth estimated 2028 is the earliest realistic time frame for memory-chip supply and demand to normalize, assuming AI infrastructure spending continues to rise.
Write to Adam Clark at adam.clark@barrons.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 13, 2026 07:04 ET (11:04 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Comments