Micron Shares Surge Over 16% on Strong AI-Driven Demand and Upbeat Q1 Guidance

Shares of Micron (NASDAQ:MU) surged over 16% in pre-market today after the chipmaker issued stronger-than-expected guidance for the current quarter, driven by rising demand for its memory chips used in artificial intelligence applications.

Micron reported adjusted fourth-quarter earnings of $1.18 per share on revenue of $7.75 billion, surpassing analysts’ expectations, which had forecast earnings of $1.11 per share on revenue of $7.65 billion.

Looking ahead, Micron projected adjusted earnings for its fiscal first quarter to be $1.74 per share, with a margin of $0.08, on revenue of $8.7 billion, plus or minus $200 million. This outlook exceeded Wall Street’s estimates of $1.58 per share on revenue of $8.35 billion.

During a call with analysts, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra highlighted the strong demand from data center customers, noting that inventory levels remain healthy. This robust demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips has helped offset challenges in the personal computing and smartphone markets, which have been affected by economic uncertainty leading to reduced consumer and business spending.