By Emily Bary
IDC analysts say that the memory market can break from its historical tendency to see dramatic booms and busts
Micron is closing in on a $700 billion market capitalization after first crossing the $600 billion mark on Friday.
Micron Technology's stock is extending its strong rally following a report from IDC that indicated the memory-chip market could break from its historical cyclical patterns.
&#34;The global semiconductor market is undergoing a seismic transformation,&#34; the report noted, and &#34;the memory segment is at the epicenter of this shift.&#34;
Industry revenues from dynamic random-access memory could almost triple this year to reach $418.6 billion, IDC predicted. NAND revenues could more than double to $174.1 billion. Micron (MU) makes both DRAM and NAND products.
&#34;Hyperscalers are buying a fundamentally different, more expensive class of memory and are willing to pay a premium to secure supply,&#34; IDC noted.
Jeff Janukowicz, IDC's research vice president for semiconductor manufacturing, weighed in on what's been a crucial debate. Some investors are worried that the memory market has undergone dramatic booms and busts, suggesting that the current good times won't last. Those who are more optimistic have said that AI has fundamentally changed the industry's trajectory.
Read: Optics is the next big AI bottleneck. This company could be an underrated beneficiary.
Janukowicz seems to sit in the latter camp. He wrote that &#34;this time is different,&#34; with AI driving an &#34;unprecedented inflection point&#34; for memory.
IDC noted that previously, the memory market was much more dependent on consumer demand trends.
Micron's stock is up about 5% in morning trading on Tuesday, while shares of fellow memory and storage providers Western Digital (WDC) and Sandisk (SNDK) are each up more than 3%.
Micron also announced on Tuesday that it has started shipping a 245TB solid-state drive that it called &#34;the world's highest capacity commercially available SSD.&#34;
&#34;AI workloads are driving massive growth in shared data, continuing the shift of data center storage share from HDDs toward SSDs,&#34; the company noted in its release.
Shares of Micron have soared more than 600% over the past 12 months. The company first became a $600 billion-plus company on Friday; now it has an intraday market capitalization of about $690 billion.
See also: Here's just how quickly Micron has risen up the ranks of the top U.S companies
-Emily Bary
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
05-05-26 0942ET

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Micron Technology's stock has surged following a positive IDC report suggesting the memory market may break from its historical boom-bust cycles. The report predicts significant revenue growth in dynamic random-access memory and NAND segments, driven by increased demand from hyperscalers for premium memory products. Micron's stock rose about 5% in morning trading, with shares up over 600% in the past year, pushing its market capitalization close to $700 billion. The company also announced the launch of a 245TB solid-state drive, highlighting the shift towards SSDs in data centers.

- IDC analysts suggest the memory market might deviate from its historical cycles, indicating a potential transformation due to AI's influence.  
- Micron Technology's stock is rallying significantly, with a market capitalization approaching $700 billion, driven by increased demand for advanced memory products.  
- IDC forecasts substantial revenue growth in dynamic random-access memory and NAND sectors, with hyperscalers investing in higher-end memory to secure supply.

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Micron's stock soars as new report throws cold water on the bear case: 'This time is different.'