Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) shares edged lower in premarket trading Tuesday, extending a 5.25% decline from Monday amid a broader technology sell-off fueled by concerns over artificial intelligence spending.

The pressure continued as U.S. stock futures weakened, with Nasdaq futures falling 0.68% and S&P 500 futures declining 0.58%. Micron is consolidating after a sharp 12-month rally, leaving it sensitive to swings in technology and semiconductor stocks.

Memory Sector Outlook

Despite recent semiconductor pressure, Pella Funds CIO Jordan Cvetanovski told CNBC that memory companies could continue performing well over the next one to two years. He pointed to unusually high margins and industry returns as key supports for the sector.

However, Cvetanovski warned that strong profitability could attract more investment and production capacity, potentially pressuring memory prices and margins. He also highlighted heavy investor concentration in AI, semiconductors, and related hardware, noting that a slowdown in data-center demand or a shift in the AI investment narrative could trigger a sharp reversal.

Technical Positioning

Micron is trading 3.8% below its 20-day simple moving average of $960.43 and 0.4% below its 50-day SMA of $927.58, placing the stock near intermediate-term support. The relative strength index stands at 46.15, signaling neutral momentum.

The longer-term trend remains bullish, with the stock trading 3.8% above its 100-day SMA of $889.83 and 47.6% above its 200-day SMA of $625.57. Key resistance sits near $1,012, while support around $887.50 tracks the 100-day SMA.

Earnings And Analyst Estimates

Micron is scheduled to report earnings on Sept. 30. Wall Street expects earnings of $31.30 per share on revenue of $50.78 billion, compared with earnings of $3.03 per share and revenue of $11.31 billion a year earlier.

The stock carries a Buy consensus rating with an average price forecast of $1,521.74. Recent analyst actions include:

• Mizuho maintained an Outperform rating on Aug. 25 but lowered its price forecast to $1,300.
• New Street Research upgraded Micron to Buy on Aug. 14 with a $1,250 forecast.
• Citigroup maintained a Buy rating on Aug. 7 while lowering its forecast to $1,150.

What The Numbers Show

Micron’s expected revenue growth of approximately 349% year-over-year ($11.31 billion to $50.78 billion) significantly outpaces its expected earnings per share growth of roughly 933% ($3.03 to $31.30). This divergence suggests substantial operating leverage, where each additional dollar of revenue contributes disproportionately more to net profit than in the prior year, likely driven by fixed cost absorption and improved margin dynamics in the memory cycle.

Memory chips now account for 50%-55% of semiconductor industry revenue, up from roughly 20%-30% historically, according to Susquehanna analyst Mehdi Hosseini.

Hosseini said Wednesday that memory has become the industry's new "king" as AI data centers demand more of it. He called memory the "primary driver" of semiconductor revenue growth, with total industry revenue on track to reach roughly $1.5 trillion this year.

AI Is Rewriting the Chip Spending Mix

The AI spending boom is no longer just about processors from Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA). Data centers also need huge amounts of DRAM to feed those chips with data and NAND to store it.

Research firm TrendForce says supply is still struggling to keep up. It expects DRAM and NAND to absorb 47% of major cloud providers' total capital spending this year, rising to 68% in 2027.

That helps explain why memory's share of the chip industry has surged. Market-research firm Omdia separately expects memory to account for more than half of total semiconductor revenue in 2026.

Micron Rides the Memory Boom

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) is one of the clearest U.S.-listed beneficiaries.

Global DRAM revenue jumped 59.5% sequentially to $154.73 billion in the calendar second quarter, according to TrendForce. Micron's DRAM revenue rose 65.5% to $36 billion, giving it a 23.3% market share.

Micron has also begun high-volume shipments of HBM4, the high-bandwidth memory used alongside advanced AI processors.

CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said last month there is "no AI without memory," describing memory as the "strategic infrastructure of the AI era."

What the Numbers Show

Micron's DRAM revenue growth of 65.5% outpaced the global DRAM market growth of 59.5% in the calendar second quarter. This divergence suggests Micron is gaining share or benefiting from a higher mix of premium products like HBM4 relative to the broader market average.

Can Memory Stay King?

Memory has historically been highly cyclical, with high prices encouraging new supply that can eventually push prices lower. Competition is also increasing: Market-research firm Counterpoint Research estimates Chinese rival CXMT captured 10% of global DRAM revenue in the second quarter, up from 4% a year earlier.

Prediction traders still see Nvidia as the defining corporate winner from AI. Polymarket gives Nvidia a 79% chance of ending 2026 as the world's largest company in a market with about $6.95 million traded.

Hosseini's thesis suggests more of the spending underneath that Nvidia-led boom is flowing to memory suppliers. For Micron, the question is whether that shift can outlast the industry's old boom-and-bust cycle.