Micron’s 39% Plunge and SK Hynix, Samsung’s $1.3T Spending Worries US Chipmakers

Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) closed at $823 per share on Friday, July 31, down 5.90% on the day and as much as 39% below its high this year.

The slide is rattling more than one US chipmaker. SK Hynix and Samsung’s plan to spend up to $1.3 trillion combined on new capacity is adding pressure, just as SanDisk, another US memory maker, has fallen 41% in the past month.

Why Rivals Are Racing to Add Capacity

South Korean officials have tied the expansion to a national plan to secure the country’s position in AI-era chip supply. Reports on the combined Samsung and SK Hynix investment have ranged from $575 billion to $1.3 trillion, reflecting how quickly spending plans have escalated this year.

Demand for high bandwidth memory used in AI accelerators has outpaced supply for more than a year, a shortage Micron’s own management does not expect to ease before 2028.

That squeeze helped push SK Hynix stock down 13% on capex concerns even as Samsung posted an 1,800% profit jump last quarter, and it is also fueling the rise of Chinese challenger CXMT, whose stock has kept climbing since its IPO.

What It Means for US Chipmakers

Micron trades at a forward price to earnings ratio near 19.8, with a market capitalization of about $930 billion. Wall Street analysts rate the stock a strong buy, even as short-term technical indicators point toward a sell signal.

SanDisk faces a similar squeeze. Its stock crash has erased much of a euphoric rally, though the company still holds a year-to-date gain of about 362%, a sign of how fast memory stocks moved before this pullback.

Coverage of Micron itself is split, though. One analysis modeled a path to roughly $1,000 per share by mid-2028 if pricing power holds. Another warned that rising AI infrastructure costs could force hyperscalers to slow spending before Micron’s new capacity, including plants in Idaho and New York, comes fully online.

Micron’s next earnings report, due September 29, will show whether US chipmakers can hold their pricing power as SK Hynix, Samsung, and CXMT race to close the capacity gap.