Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) shares slipped 0.5% in pre-market trading on Friday, giving back earlier gains after a cautious research note from Semianalysis raised doubts about the company’s high-bandwidth memory (HBM) outlook.
The stock had initially climbed around 4% before the opening bell, supported by Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) announcement of a sizable $200 billion capital spending plan for 2026, which pointed to strong long-term demand for memory and data center chips.
Momentum reversed after Semianalysis cut Micron’s projected exposure to Nvidia’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) upcoming HBM4 memory products to zero. “We currently see no signs that Nvidia is ordering Micron HBM4,” the research firm said.
The latest downgrade builds on an earlier revision in January, when Semianalysis flagged concerns over Micron’s HBM4 performance, citing slower speeds linked to the use of an internally developed base die. The firm now expects Nvidia’s HBM4 supply to be sourced entirely from SK Hynix and Samsung, with an estimated split of roughly 70% and 30%, respectively.
High-bandwidth memory is a key component in advanced artificial intelligence chips, and missing out on Nvidia’s next-generation HBM4 lineup could weigh on Micron’s growth prospects in the lucrative AI memory market. This risk persists even as broader data center investment trends, highlighted by Amazon’s aggressive capital expenditure plans, remain supportive for the sector overall.
