Micron’s 39% Plunge and SK Hynix, Samsung’s $1.3T Spending Worries US Chipmakers

Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) closed at $823 per share on Friday, July 31, down 5.90% on the day and as much as 39% below its high this year.

The slide is rattling more than one US chipmaker. SK Hynix and Samsung's plan to spend up to $1.3 trillion combined on new capacity is adding pressure, just as SanDisk, another US memory maker, has fallen 41% in the past month.

Why Rivals Are Racing to Add Capacity

South Korean officials have tied the expansion to a national plan to secure the country's position in AI-era chip supply. Reports on the combined Samsung and SK Hynix investment have ranged from $575 billion to $1.3 trillion, reflecting how quickly spending plans have escalated this year.

Demand for high bandwidth memory used in AI accelerators has outpaced supply for more than a year, a shortage Micron's own management does not expect to ease before 2028.

That squeeze helped push SK Hynix stock down 13% on capex concerns even as Samsung posted an 1,800% profit jump last quarter, and it is also fueling the rise of Chinese challenger CXMT, whose stock has kept climbing since its IPO.

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