Why Wall Street thinks US memory maker Micron is the next Nvidia

Micron Technology briefly eclipsed the market valuations of Meta and Tesla this week, as the memory chip maker's stock extended a rally that has added more than 236% in the past month alone [1]. The Boise, Idaho-based company closed Friday with a market capitalization near $1.27 trillion, just behind Meta at $1.39 trillion and Tesla at $1.42 trillion, after having surpassed both on Thursday [1]. Shares ended the week at $1,132, a level that contrasts with a years-long history below $100 before mid-2025 [1]. The surge is rooted in an AI data center construction wave that has created a shortage of DRAM and NAND memory, particularly High-Bandwidth Memory used in AI servers [1]. Hyperscalers including Microsoft, Amazon AWS, Google, Meta, and Oracle are securing large volumes, forcing PC makers such as Dell and HP to stockpile chips as well [1]. The supply squeeze, referred to by some as "RAMageddon," is expected to persist into 2027 [1]. Micron reported third-quarter revenue of $41.45 billion, quadruple the year-earlier figure, while profit jumped to $28.2 billion from $1.88 billion [1]. The company forecast fourth-quarter revenue between $49 billion and $51 billion [1]. Historically, memory makers have struggled with boom-and-bust cycles because expanding fabrication capacity is slow and expensive, often leading to oversupply just as demand cools [1]. Micron has sought to break that pattern by signing 16 strategic customer agreements across data center, consumer, and automotive segments [1]. William Blair analyst Sebastien Naji cited "the strong likelihood of continued ASP growth in the coming quarters and improving revenue visibility" from those long-term deals in reiterating an Outperform rating [1]. The U.S. government has directed substantial subsidies toward domestic chip manufacturing through the CHIPS and Science Act, enacted in August 2022, which authorizes $39 billion in manufacturing subsidies and a 25% investment tax credit for equipment [2]. By March 2024, analysts estimated the act had incentivized between 25 and 50 projects with projected investments of $160 billion to $200 billion, though bureaucratic delays and skilled-worker shortages have slowed grant disbursements [2]. Micron's rise places it alongside Samsung, the South Korean conglomerate whose electronics arm reported consolidated revenue of ₩333.6 trillion in fiscal 2025 and remains a global leader in memory semiconductors [3]. The broader AI infrastructure buildout has also lifted cloud and enterprise technology providers such as Oracle, which ranked among the 20 largest companies globally by market cap as of 2025 [7].