On Tuesday, Micron Technology (MU.US) experienced its most significant single-day surge since 2011, with shares soaring over 19% to a new all-time high of $916.8. This marks the 28th time this year the stock has set a new closing record. The primary catalysts for this dramatic rise were a substantial target price increase from UBS and recent public comments from former President Donald Trump.
UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri raised the firm's price target on Micron from $535 to $1,625—a more than threefold increase—establishing the highest target on Wall Street for the stock. Based on Micron's closing price of $751 last Friday, this new target implies an approximate upside of 115%. This bullish outlook propelled the company's market capitalization past the $1 trillion threshold, making it the 11th largest publicly traded company in the U.S., positioned between Eli Lilly (LLY.US) and Walmart (WMT.US).
Arcuri argued that as the structural impact of AI on the entire memory chip supply chain becomes increasingly evident, investors should begin applying "more normalized" valuation multiples to Micron. Historically viewed as a typical cyclical memory chip company, Micron has faced investor concerns over the volatile pricing of DRAM and NAND. However, UBS contends that surging AI demand is altering this dynamic. With growing demand for AI servers, high-bandwidth memory (HBM), and data centers, Micron's future order visibility has improved significantly, and its earnings volatility is expected to decrease.
Analysts note this suggests the market may no longer value Micron solely as a traditional cyclical stock but increasingly as a core AI infrastructure company. At UBS's $1,625 target price, Micron's potential market cap could reach approximately $1.8 trillion, which would rank it as the seventh-largest U.S. company by market value, trailing only Nvidia (NVDA.US), Alphabet (GOOGL.US), Apple (AAPL.US), Microsoft (MSFT.US), Amazon (AMZN.US), and Broadcom (AVGO.US), and surpassing Tesla (TSLA.US), Meta (META.US), and Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B.US).
The rally in Micron also boosted the broader chip sector. Other semiconductor stocks, including Marvell Technology (MRVL.US), ON Semiconductor (ON.US), AMD (AMD.US), Lam Research (LRCX.US), Intel (INTC.US), and Qualcomm (QCOMM.US), all closed higher. Marvell has now risen for 10 consecutive weeks, while Micron and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index have posted gains in 7 of the past 8 weeks.
However, market observers caution that Micron's short-term trajectory has entered a phase of high volatility. Analysts suggest that for the bullish momentum to continue, the stock must hold key support near the $800 level, with a stronger support zone identified around $665.
