Micron’s Memory & the Algorithm of Fortune

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January, 2026. A month of peculiar arithmetic, wouldn’t you agree? Shares of Micron Technology (MU 3.72%) ascended a rather improbable 45.4%, a feat achieved not through diligent earnings reports – those were absent – but through the whispers of a new digital god: Artificial Intelligence. It appears the machines, those insatiable consumers of electricity and silicon, have developed a craving. A craving for memory. And Micron, it transpires, is one of the few establishments offering a sufficiently lavish buffet.

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The Hunger of the Algorithm

A shortage of memory, you say? A modern inconvenience? Hardly. It’s a symptom. A symptom of a world increasingly obsessed with feeding data into the maw of the machine. The market, naturally, is tightening. As if squeezed by an invisible hand, or perhaps the relentless pressure of progress. Micron’s management, during their December earnings call, casually mentioned that their entire 2026 production of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) had been…committed. Before the year even began. One pictures a frantic scramble, a silent auction conducted in the shadows of server farms. HBM, you see, is not merely memory. It’s a vertical city of data, a skyscraper built of silicon, designed to appease the digital deities.

Micron, alongside Samsung (SSNL.F +55.02%) and SK Hynix, is one of the three architects of this HBM realm. They are, shall we say, the landlords of the information age. And like any shrewd landlord, they are collecting a rather handsome rent. Record sales, robust profits…it’s a familiar tale, yet somehow… unsettling. The average analyst predicts a quadrupling of Micron’s earnings next year. A quadrupling! One begins to suspect the numbers are not merely increasing, but…multiplying. Like rabbits. Or, more accurately, like the data points fueling the AI revolution.

Sacrificing Crucial to the Machine God

Micron isn’t simply waiting for fortune to smile upon them. They are actively…rearranging the furniture. Closing down the long-running consumer brand, Crucial, in February. A sacrifice, if you will, offered to the machine god in exchange for continued favor. It’s a pragmatic decision, of course. Why cater to the whims of individual users when you can supply the insatiable appetite of the algorithm? It lacks a certain poetry, perhaps, but then, poetry rarely appears on a balance sheet.

And let us not forget the factories. Micron’s own manufacturing facilities. A significant advantage, wouldn’t you agree? To control the means of production is to control…well, everything. Samsung, too, possesses this advantage. They are, after all, masters of their own destiny. Micron’s facilities, however, are crucial – forgive the pun – to their business model. Without them, they would be at the mercy of third-party manufacturers, already overwhelmed with orders from the AI elite.

As of this writing, February 3rd, Micron’s stock has gained 80% in two months and a frankly preposterous 303% in six. Yet, the stock still appears…underpriced. A mere 9.7 times forward earnings. A Price to Earnings to Growth (PEG) ratio of 0.13. A PEG ratio near 1.0 is considered fair. This…this is practically giving money away. One begins to suspect a conspiracy. Or, perhaps, simply a collective delusion. Either way, Micron’s growth rocket appears to have plenty of fuel remaining. It may, in fact, be one of the most sensible ways to participate in the AI boom. Though, of course, sanity is a rare commodity in these times.

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2026-02-03 20:22