Ahead of Big Tech Earnings, Micron and SK Hynix Both Surge Over 6% Premarket
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Micron rose 6.8% and SK Hynix 7.2% in Tuesday pre-market trading as investors bet Big Tech earnings will confirm accelerating AI capex — even as reports of Google designing a chip to cut HBM reliance loom in the background.
Why did memory stocks surge all at once?
Micron climbed 6.8% pre-market; SK Hynix ADRs rose 7.2%, and the local Korean share closed up 4.1%.
This means → capital is front-running Big Tech earnings, betting that AI infrastructure budgets will be raised again, directly boosting demand for HBM — high-bandwidth memory, an ultra-fast memory chip purpose-built for AI processors.
Alphabet, Google's parent, reports Wednesday; investors will scan it for signs of accelerating AI capex.
Why does UBS call this a "buying opportunity"?
UBS global equities head Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi wrote: "Autonomous, self-learning AI agents will dramatically multiply the required computing scale."
She estimates that by 2030, over 90% of AI activity will be carried out by AI agents.
In plain terms = AI is not a one-off deployment — it learns and runs on its own, so compute demand only compounds. That is why she frames the recent pullback as "an opportunity to buy leading chip and semiconductor equipment stocks."
Could Google's custom chip undercut HBM demand?
The Information reports Google is developing a new chip that would hard-wire parts of AI model logic directly into silicon, reducing data transfers and cutting HBM reliance.
This means → if it works, each future AI chip could need fewer HBM modules — the biggest long-term overhang for memory stocks.
The chip's target deployment is 2028; Google has not commented, and its real-world scale remains unclear.
How does JPMorgan respond to the "tech kills demand" narrative?
JPMorgan analyst Mixo Das pushed back directly: "There have been reports that tech breakthroughs will suppress memory demand, but we have not yet seen this in practice."
He stressed a key distinction: "The supply of memory stocks should not be confused with the supply of physical memory."
In plain terms = chip roadmaps are a long-term story; stock prices reflect today's supply-demand balance — and right now, HBM is still undersupplied.
Can this rally hold?
Two things decide: ① whether this week's earnings confirm market expectations for accelerating AI capex; ② whether hardware-efficiency roadmaps from Google and peers could hit HBM demand sooner than expected.
This reflects a pricing logic of "near-term demand certainty + long-term risk shelved for now."
If Alphabet's report shows AI spending below expectations, that logic flips immediately.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.