MW Micron gets boost with surging AI memory-chip sales; shares jump on earnings beat

By Therese Poletti

Sales of high-bandwidth memory chips cross the $1 billion level

Shares of memory-chip maker Micron Technology Inc. jumped in extended trading Thursday after the company's fiscal second quarter showed that it is still seeing a boost from AI, with its highest-capacity memory products surging in growth.

Micron $(MU)$ reported fiscal second-quarter revenue and earnings that beat Wall Street's estimates, in part fueled by sales of its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, which are used in AI data centers. Micron said that sales of the HBM chips surpassed the $1 billion milestone in the second quarter, ended Feb. 27, ahead of its own estimates and up 50% sequentially.

"Micron is in the best competitive position in its history, and we are achieving shared gains across high-margin product categories in our industry," Micron Chief Executive Sanjay Mehrotra told analysts on a conference call.

Shares of Micron jumped 5% in after-hours trading, following an overall downturn for the market on Thursday. Its shares are up about 22% so far this year, amid a mostly tumultuous time for semiconductor stocks. In contrast, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index SOX is down 7.6% so far this year.

Micron reported total fiscal second-quarter revenue of $8.0 billion, up from analysts' expectations of $7.9 billion. On an adjusted basis, it reported net income of $1.78 billion, or $1.56 a share, compared with expectations of $1.43 a share, on a non-GAAP basis.

The company's outlook for the third quarter was also better than expected, with revenue around $8.80 billion, plus or minus $200 million, while analysts' estimates are currently for revenue of $8.47 billion, according to FactSet.

Mehrotra also said that Micron is sold out of HBM chips for calendar 2025. "We expect multi-billion revenue in fiscal 2025," he said. "We are seeing strong demand for our HBM supply in 2026, and are in discussions with our customers on agreements for their calendar 2026."

He also said that he expects the PC market to grow by a single-digit percentage this year, noting that the AI PCs require more memory than standard PCs.

-Therese Poletti

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March 20, 2025 16:58 ET (20:58 GMT)

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