Micron Technology shares rose early Monday, helped by renewed interest in memory chips and the Trump administration’s position against Chinese memory hardware.
Micron shares were up 3.5% in premarket trading, and American depositary receipts for South Korean competitor SK Hynix climbed more than 4%.
Investors seem to be coming back to AI hardware stocks, with memory chip companies getting special attention. Micron shares have jumped almost 700% in the past year, but the stock is still below its summer peak.
Comments from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick likely boosted sentiment. In an interview published Friday, Lutnick said the Trump administration is discouraging American companies from buying memory chips from China, calling their use by major U.S. firms undesirable. He mentioned that this message was shared with Apple. Earlier reports said Apple had talked with China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies about supplying parts for devices sold in China.
ChangXin Memory Technologies, which recently went public in China, has quickly grown its conventional DRAM production. The company took 7% of global market share by revenue in the second quarter, according to Counterpoint Research. U.S. rules now require American companies to get a license before sharing product information with ChangXin.
