Micron and other chip stocks fall as China steals the spotlight

By Britney Nguyen

CXMT had a strong public debut in Shanghai, and now investors are weighing the prospect of a manufacturing breakthrough that could make China's chip industry more competitive

Shares of CXMT surged 466% in Shanghai on their first trading day Monday.

There's a new hot memory company on the block, and the shares of more established players are losing some luster.

Despite a blockbuster debut for China's ChangXin Memory Technologies (CN:688825), which saw its stock pop 466% in Shanghai on its first trading day, U.S.-listed memory stocks are taking a sharp turn lower.

Shares of Micron (MU) closed 2.3% lower on Monday, after falling as much as 7% intraday, while those of Sandisk (SNDK) tumbled 11%. SK Hynix's American depositary receipts (SKHY) slid 7.5%.

CXMT became China's most valuable publicly listed company after the strong reception to its initial public offering, according to LSEG data, which showed a market capitalization of about $484 billion. The Hefei-based company makes dynamic random-access memory chips and is the fourth-largest producer of those chips behind SK Hynix (KR:000660), Samsung Electronics (KR:005930) and Micron. Without access to ASML's (ASML) extreme-ultraviolet lithography technology, however, CXMT is limited from making the advanced high-bandwidth memory chips that have proved lucrative for its competitors.

That said, the Information reported on Monday that China has begun making its own deep-ultraviolet lithography machines, potentially hinting that domestic chip makers in the country could become more competitive. U.S.-listed shares of ASML, which makes both DUV and EUV lithography systems, fell nearly 6% on Monday.

The focus on silicon-intensive HBM for artificial intelligence has contributed to the broader DRAM shortage, and CXMT has been able to capitalize on that industry dynamic, according to Richard Windsor, founder of research firm Radio Free Mobile.

The higher margins from HBM have led the memory leaders to switch capacity toward AI data-center chips from commodity DRAM that is used in consumer electronics, Windsor said, and that "is the gap that CXMT is filling."

Although Windsor expects "a big correction" for CXMT when DRAM supplies normalize, "between then and now, it looks like good times are ahead," he said.

Meanwhile, Nvidia (NVDA) said Friday that it and South Korea's SK Group had signed letters of intent to expand their strategic collaboration with a more than $500 billion initiative to build AI factories with SK Telecom (KR:017670) and to co-develop future generations of memory chips for AI, including HBM, with SK Hynix.

Custom chip maker Broadcom (AVGO) also announced a memorandum of understanding with Samsung on Saturday to expand their strategic collaboration for advanced memory chips and foundry services, including advanced packaging for AI and networking chips. The partnership is expected to be worth more than $200 billion through 2030.

Bernstein analyst Mark Li wrote that the deals "are more for memory and indicate the need for Nvidia & Broadcom to secure memory supply." He said in a note that investors should keep in mind that consensus forecasts for memory annual revenues are for $1.3 trillion in 2027 and 2028.

Li said the importance of memory to AI development has surpassed that of logic chips, which is a good sign for demand. The recent pullback among those stocks makes for "a good entry point," he added.

Given how strong both Nvidia and Broadcom expect AI growth to be in the next few years, Li said the recent announcements "may help to assuage supply concerns" for the companies.

Nvidia's stock dropped 5% on Monday, while Broadcom's rose about 0.3%.

-Britney Nguyen

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07-27-26 1633ET