Micron shares surged 4.4% in premarket trading on Thursday, putting the stock on track to surpass its all-time closing high of $1,087.99 set on Monday, after Apple’s chief executive confirmed that surging memory and storage chip costs have made price increases on iPhones and other products unavoidable. The disclosure is one of the most direct public acknowledgments yet of how severe the memory supply crunch has become. Here is what Tim Cook said and why it matters for Micron investors.
Cook said in a Wall Street Journal interview published Wednesday that Apple has been working to shield customers from rising component costs but that the situation has become unsustainable. He confirmed price increases are coming across Apple’s product lineup to offset the impact of surging memory and storage chip costs being passed through from suppliers. The comments validate what memory chip investors have been pricing in for months: that demand for DRAM and NAND flash is running structurally ahead of available supply, giving suppliers pricing power that is now visibly flowing through the consumer electronics chain.
Micron has recorded 34 all-time closing highs this year and is up 267% year to date through Wednesday’s close. The stock has benefited from investors reassessing the historically low forward price-to-earnings multiple of memory chip companies, as the AI infrastructure buildout has created a demand environment that differs meaningfully from prior cycles. Apple’s comments reinforce that the pricing power currently enjoyed by memory makers is not limited to AI data centers but is spreading into consumer hardware, broadening the revenue opportunity.
The broader market was also supportive on Thursday. S&P 500 futures gained 0.8% after President Trump signed a memorandum of understanding to end the war in Iran, lifting risk sentiment across asset classes.
