Overview
- Negotiations resumed after the Samsung union threatened a general strike scheduled for May 21 through June 7, and a South Korean court ordered minimum safety staffing during the proposed action.
- Jefferies estimates a full Samsung walkout could remove about 3% of global memory production, a material hit in a market where high‑performance memory is concentrated among only a few firms.
- Multiple analysts raised Micron price targets this week—Bank of America to $950 and Melius Research to $1,100—saying strong AI data‑center spending and tight supply support higher valuations despite recent stock swings.
- Micron reports its 2026 high‑bandwidth memory (HBM) book is sold out, is sampling 256GB DDR5 RDIMM modules with faster speeds and lower power, and plans more than $25 billion in fiscal 2026 capital expenditures to add fabs and packaging capacity.
- Shares have been volatile, falling about 17% over five trading days from recent highs, and investors view Micron’s June 24 earnings as the next key test because meaningful global capacity relief is not expected before 2027.