Micron: A Memory Stock (and My Portfolio)

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So, Micron. It’s up, apparently. Fifty percent this year. Which, if you’re keeping score, is… a lot. My brother-in-law, Dale, keeps trying to explain semiconductors to me. He works in logistics, which mostly involves yelling at truck drivers, but he’s convinced this is the future. He sent me a flowchart. It involved arrows. I mostly nodded and pretended to understand the difference between DRAM and, well, whatever the other thing was. NAND, he said. Sounded vaguely medieval.

Anyway, the stock. It’s not, according to the analysts, ridiculously overpriced. A P/E ratio of 12.5? Sounds… reasonable. As reasonable as anything can be when you’re talking about chips and data centers. It reminds me of trying to return a defective toaster oven. They always make you feel like you broke it, even though it clearly sparked and smelled like burning plastic the moment you plugged it in.

The Memory Business (and My Limited Capacity For It)

Micron, it turns out, makes memory. Not the kind I struggle with, though that’s considerable. They make the stuff that computers use. Along with two other companies, SK Hynix and Samsung, they’re the big players. About eighty percent of their revenue comes from this memory, the rest from something called “flash memory.” Apparently, there’s a shortage. Everything’s in short supply these days. Like decent coffee filters. Or patience.

This shortage is apparently driven by AI. Artificial intelligence. Which, as far as I can tell, mostly involves chatbots that try to sell you things you don’t need. But apparently, these chatbots need a lot of memory. And this particular kind of memory, called HBM, is complicated. It requires more “wafer capacity,” which sounds like something you’d find in a diner. Dale tried to explain it. He used his hands. I mostly focused on the crumbs on his shirt. The point is, making this stuff is hard, and because it’s hard, it’s expensive, and because it’s expensive, Micron is doing well. It’s a simple equation, really. If only my own life followed such a clear trajectory.

The flash memory side of things is also interesting. It crashed after the pandemic, because everyone bought everything during the pandemic, and then nobody needed anything. It’s like a birthday party. All the excitement, then just a pile of discarded wrapping paper. Now, suddenly, AI data centers need huge drives to store data. Which means the flash memory people are scrambling. It’s a bit like me trying to find my keys in the morning. Frantic, disorganized, and ultimately, unsuccessful until I’ve retraced my steps at least three times.

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Should You Buy Micron? (Or Should You Just Buy More Coffee Filters?)

Memory stocks are notoriously cyclical. Boom and bust. Like my attempts at gardening. One year, everything flourishes. The next, it’s just a patch of dirt and regret. But apparently, this time it’s different. The long-term commitments for HBM are changing things. It’s not just another upswing. It’s a “structural tailwind,” which sounds like something you’d encounter while hiking.

Micron’s revenue is up, their gross margins are soaring, and they generated nearly four billion dollars in free cash flow last quarter. Which, I assume, is a lot of money. I mostly measure wealth in terms of how many books I can afford. Their HBM capacity is sold out for the year, and they’re building more. It’s all very impressive. Almost enough to make me feel like I should be investing in something other than novelty socks.

So, is it a good stock? I honestly don’t know. I’m not a financial advisor. I’m just a man trying to navigate the complexities of modern life, one slightly overpriced stock at a time. But if you’re looking for a company that’s benefiting from the AI boom, and you’re willing to take a risk, Micron might be worth a look. Just don’t blame me if it crashes. I’ll be too busy searching for my keys.

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2026-02-26 01:23