Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) remains caught in a volatile memory-chip selloff as investors weigh rising Chinese competition against tight supply, long-term customer commitments and continued AI-driven demand.
The stock fell more than 12% over the last 5 days but is still up almost 240% in 2026. Micron traded lower by over 1% on Wednesday.
Memory and semiconductor rivals SK hynix Inc. (NASDAQ:SKHY), Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ:WDC), Seagate Technology Holdings Plc. (NASDAQ:STX) also joined the selloff.
Cramer Says Selloff Overstates Micron’s China Risk
CNBC’s Jim Cramer said semiconductor stocks have traded increasingly as a group, with weakness in South Korea’s SK Hynix spilling into U.S. chip names such as Micron.
Cramer dismissed fears that growing competition from Chinese memory chipmakers could hurt Micron, calling the concerns “nonsense.” He argued that investors may be overlooking Micron’s underlying demand and customer commitments.
Cramer told on Wednesday that Micron has 26 long-term customer agreements covering revenue through 2030 and is negotiating contracts for 2031.
He rejected the idea that Chinese competition alone could undermine Micron’s outlook, saying major U.S. customers would have concerns about using Chinese memory.
Cramer also pointed to growing memory requirements across consumer devices and AI-related products as a reason to focus on end demand rather than the semiconductor index.
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Pettit Says Memory Story Is in Transition
Roundhill Investments Chief Investment Strategist Drew Pettit said investors often struggle with stocks whose growth stories are shifting.
“Markets are interesting. They don’t really like stock stories that are in transition, and that’s where memory is right now,” Pettit said.
He told CNBC on Tuesday that memory previously benefited from strong earnings revisions, but investors now want companies to prove how durable that growth can be.
Pettit said pullbacks on negative headlines therefore make sense, even while fundamentals in large AI-related companies remain strong.
He also warned that elevated interest rates leave the broader market with limited room for disappointment.
Luria Says China Risk Is Already in the Math
D.A. Davidson Head of Technology Research Gil Luria said semiconductor results and outlooks across the AI supply chain have remained consistently positive.
“Results have gotten better, outlooks have gotten better, visibility has gotten better,” Luria said.
He acknowledged to CNBC on Wednesday that China’s CXMT has gained DRAM market share and continues to improve its technology, but said investors should distinguish between lower-end memory and high-bandwidth memory.
Luria said Chinese suppliers do not currently participate in the high-bandwidth memory market and cannot sell to major U.S. customers including Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA).
He said any near-term competitive effect from Chinese suppliers would therefore fall more heavily on SK Hynix and Samsung than Micron. Luria also said China itself remains undersupplied.
“When Micron says that the tightness is going to get worse next year and even worse the year after that, they are fully aware of what CXMT is developing, their product roadmap, what they have, what they don’t have, and that’s incorporated into their outlook,” he said.
The debate leaves investors balancing near-term volatility and China-related concerns against tight memory supply, AI demand and Micron’s longer-term customer contracts.
MU Price Action: Micron Technology shares were down 1.50% at $938.85 during premarket trading on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Image via Shutterstock
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