Micron’s market value briefly tops Meta as AI demand surges

Micron Technology briefly climbed above Meta Platforms and Tesla in market value on Thursday after a forecast that kept investors focused on the memory chips feeding the AI buildout. Micron shares were last up about 18.4% at $1,236, giving the Boise, Idaho, company a market capitalization of about $1.398 trillion, compared with Meta’s roughly $1.392 trillion and Tesla’s near $1.4 trillion.

The surge rested on more than a single quarter’s enthusiasm. Micron disclosed $22 billion in customer commitments to secure memory-chip supply, spread across 16 strategic agreements covering data center, consumer and automotive markets. Those contracts included take-or-pay commitments, cash deposits and pricing floors, and Micron said the remaining performance obligations tied to the deals were about $100 billion.

The company’s latest third-quarter numbers showed why investors kept bidding up the stock. Micron reported revenue of $41.46 billion, net profit of $28.24 billion, adjusted free cash flow of $18.3 billion and capital expenditures of $7.1 billion. Micron said data centers dedicated to artificial intelligence drove the quarter, reinforcing the view that memory and storage are becoming just as central to the AI economy as the better-known graphics processors that train and run large models.

The share price move also reflected how quickly Wall Street has re-rated the company. Micron’s stock has more than tripled so far in 2026, and Reuters video said its market value was roughly ten times higher than a year earlier. Micron first crossed the $1 trillion mark on May 26, 2026, then accelerated again after the latest outlook revived the AI trade.

The rally did not stop at Micron. Global chip stocks added more than $400 billion in market value after Micron and Qualcomm issued forecasts that reignited demand for AI infrastructure. South Korean chipmakers also moved higher, a sign that the pressure on memory supply is rippling through the wider semiconductor chain.

Micron has already begun betting on that demand. In January 2026, the company broke ground on a planned $24 billion wafer fabrication facility in Singapore, a 10-year investment meant to support long-term manufacturing needs and AI-driven demand. For now, the market is treating memory chips as a scarce and strategic layer of the AI boom, not just another cyclical component.