TLDR
- Micron Technology (MU) stock jumped 6.6% to $397.51 Wednesday after CFO Mark Murphy confirmed the company began volume production and commercial shipments of HBM4 chips
- Morgan Stanley raised Micron’s price target to $450 from $350, expecting the chipmaker to supply HBM4 to Nvidia by Q2 2026
- Murphy addressed “inaccurate reporting” about Micron’s HBM4 status, stating shipments started a quarter earlier than previously announced during December earnings
- Analysts suggest concerns about Micron losing ground to Korean rivals SK Hynix and Samsung in the HBM4 market are overblown
- Micron’s stock has more than quadrupled in the past 12 months, driven by surging demand for high-margin HBM chips used in AI applications
Micron Technology shares rallied Wednesday morning after executives cleared up confusion about the company’s next-generation memory chip production. The stock climbed 6.6% to $397.51 in early trading.
CFO Mark Murphy addressed what he called “inaccurate reporting” during a presentation at the Wolfe Research conference in New York. He confirmed Micron has started volume production and commercial shipments of HBM4 chips.
“We have been in high volume production on HBM4. We’ve commenced customer shipments of HBM4,” Murphy said. The timeline represents a quarter earlier than the company indicated during its December earnings call.
The clarification comes as investors worried about Micron’s competitive position against South Korean rivals SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics. Both companies have been racing to supply HBM4 chips to major customers like Nvidia.
Murphy emphasized the company’s HBM4 product delivers performance exceeding 11 gigabits per second. He expressed confidence in the product’s “performance and quality and reliability.”
Wall Street Weighs In
Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore raised his price target on Micron stock to $450 from $350 Wednesday while maintaining an Overweight rating. Moore expects Micron to supply HBM4 products to Nvidia starting in the second quarter.
SK Hynix is set to supply similar products to Nvidia in the first quarter. But analysts argue the competitive concerns have been exaggerated.
BNP Paribas Equity Research senior analyst Karl Ackerman suggested Nvidia will likely balance its supply chain across multiple vendors. If Micron doesn’t receive initial HBM4 orders, Nvidia could order other memory components from the company instead.
“Exchanging 20% HBM4 share with 20% LPDDR5X share would generate similar profit for Micron in Vera Rubin compute racks,” Ackerman wrote.
Strong Demand Continues
Murphy highlighted strong business momentum beyond the HBM4 update. He said Micron’s “business is on an extraordinary trajectory” with demand “significantly higher than our ability to supply.”
The CFO noted the company expects tight supply and demand conditions to continue beyond 2026. Micron is investing to meet customer needs over time.
Moore pointed to another round of price increases coming in Q1. He expects supply growth in 2026 will do little to ease the intense shortage.
“We expect further pricing increases through this year,” Moore wrote.
Surging demand for HBM chips has driven Micron’s stock price up more than four times in the past 12 months. The chips carry higher margins than typical memory components.
Shortages of HBM chips have also created shortages of other memory types, pushing prices up across the sector.
Lynx Equity Strategies analyst KC Rajkumar said the clarification should “put to rest the noise that had been running around” about Micron’s HBM4 capabilities. Murphy said shipment volumes are ramping successfully in Q1 2026.
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