Micron stock jumps 9% as soaring prices from memory crunch lead to quadrupling of revenue

Micron’s revenue more than quadrupled in the fiscal third quarter, the company said on Wednesday, as the memory maker continued to benefit from soaring demand tied to the artificial intelligence boom. The stock rose about 9% in extended trading. Revenue increased from $9.3 billion a year earlier, Micron said in a statement. For the current quarter, the company said it expects revenue of about $50 billion, up from $11.3 billion a year earlier. Analysts were looking for a revenue forecast of $43.58 billion, according to LSEG. Memory prices have skyrocketed in the last couple years as AI chips eat up all the production capacity of the small crop of vendors. With data center demand increasing by the day, prices are also rising for memory used in smartphones, laptops and other gadgets. That’s turned Micron into a Wall Street darling as its technology is essential for chips made by Nvidia and Google, as well as the servers that house those companies’ processors. Micron’s stock price is up roughly 700% over the past year, lifting the company’s market cap past $1 trillion. Micron’s gross margin, the profit left after accounting for the cost of goods sold, jumped to 81.2% in the third quarter from 69% in the prior period and 27% a year earlier. Net income during the quarter was $28.24 billion, or $24.46 per share, versus $1.89 billion, or $1.68 per share in the year-ago period.