By Adam Spatacco
Publication Date: 2026-02-08 23:25:00
Memory chips are becoming the new bottleneck in AI development.
For the last three years, discussions around artificial intelligence (AI) chips have mainly revolved around Nvidia (NVDA +8.01%). Nvidia’s Hopper, Blackwell, and upcoming Rubin graphics processing unit (GPU) architectures serve as a core hardware foundation on which generative AI applications are designed.
But over the last several months, another semiconductor stock has come into focus. Let’s dig into why Wall Street’s new favorite AI chip stock is Micron Technology (MU +3.17%), and explore why the company could be following in Nvidia’s footsteps.
Image source: Micron Technology.
What does Micron do?
There are several layers to the AI chip value chain. GPUs from Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices are general-purpose, versatile pieces of hardware. They are capable of processing large datasets at high speeds, making AI application development more efficient.
On the other hand, Broadcom specializes in custom application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). Custom silicon is currently leveraged by hyperscalers such as Alphabet and Meta Platforms for specific workloads across deep learning or specialized inference needs.
According to Bloomberg Intelligence, the total addressable market (TAM) for AI accelerators is expected to grow at a 16% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2033, reaching a size of $604 billion. These trends serve as a powerful secular tailwind for Micron.
As AI workloads scale and…
