Micron's AI Earnings Pull Risk Away From Crypto Bulls

Computer memory chipmaker Micron Technology (MU) posted third-quarter results that beat every Wall Street estimate. Revenue hit $41.5 billion against expectations of $35.7 billion. Earnings per share reached $25.11, well above the $20.49 consensus. Shares surged 16% in premarket trading Thursday. Bitcoin BTC climbed back above $60,000 after the print, a brief bounce for a market now 50% below its October all-time high.

The AI boom that lifted Micron is the same force starving crypto of capital. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra told analysts the company has "no line of sight" to when high-bandwidth memory (HBM) supply will catch up with demand. The shortage, he said, will stretch well beyond 2027. Micron's fourth-quarter guidance reinforced the story: revenue forecast at roughly $50 billion, $43.2 billion was the Street number.

Other AI memory stocks moved in lockstep. SanDisk (SNDK) and SK Hynix each jumped about 13%. SK Hynix, the HBM market leader, is reportedly exploring a U.S. listing that could value the company at around $30 billion.

AI-linked crypto miners caught a small tailwind. IREN (IREN) and Cipher Digital (CIFR) both rose about 3% in premarket trading. IREN carries an Alpha Score of 59 out of 100, a Moderate rating in the Financial Services sector.

Behind the stock moves, the capital rotation is visible in exchange data. Combined spot and derivatives volumes on crypto exchanges fell to $4.41 trillion in May, the lowest monthly total since September 2024. Against that broader decline, real-world asset (RWA) perpetual futures volumes rose 10.4% and hit a new all-time high.

Mehrotra said there was no line of sight to when HBM supply would catch up with demand.