Samsung shares jump after announcing new memory chips. Why did Micron shares fall?

Shares of South Korea's Samsung Electronics rose nearly 5% in Seoul trading on Feb. 9 when it announced the launch of mass production of next-generation memory chips this month. The company's high-speed memory will be supplied by Nvidia. This increases pressure on U.S. rival Micron Technology, its quotations on the premarket in New York fell by 3.5%.

Samsung will launch in February mass production of new high-speed HBM4 memory chips required for AI processors made by Nvidia, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported, citing industry sources. If that happens, the South Korean giant will be ahead of the competition, The Korea Economic Daily previously warned .

This puts pressure on another prominent player in the AI memory market, the US-based Micron, as it could jeopardize its position in the HBM chip market. It is the sharp increase in demand for them, as well as high margins compared to conventional memory chips that led to a four-fold increase in Micron's capitalization over the past year, Barron's notes. The company's head Sanjay Mehrotra said that it plans to ramp up its own production of HBM4 in the second quarter of 2026.

Samsung shares rose nearly 5% in Seoul trading on Feb. 9, while Micron securities lost about 3.5% of their value on the U.S. premarket.

Samsung, Micron and another South Korean manufacturer SK Hynix are vying for the opportunity to supply HBM microchips to Nvidia and other chipmakers, but demand is so strong that Wall Street analysts estimate Micron will be able to hold a 20-25% market share, Barron's reports.

"All of the major AI gas pedal manufacturers are moving to a three-supplier sourcing strategy rather than relying on just two, as has been the case in some cases in the past," explains UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri.

Samsung's successes do not threaten Micron and SK Hynix sales much, agrees William Blair analyst Sebastien Nagy. According to him, the shortage of supply at all three key HBM manufacturers against the background of rush demand will limit the redistribution of market shares.

SK Hynix and Micron started shipping HBM4 to customers as early as 2025. But in the third quarter, Nvidia raised memory chip bandwidth requirements for its new Rubin platform. That required chip makers to tweak their chips, and Samsung entered the race, analyst firm TrendForce previously reported.

Wall Street analysts have similar stances on the stocks of all three memory players: according to FactSet, the consensus recommendation for Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron is a strong Buy.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor