Smart investors already know that the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution has served as a generational bellwether for semiconductor stocks. Over the last few years, capital expenditure budgets from the hyperscalers have largely concentrated on buying graphics processing units (GPUs) from Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, as well as designing custom silicon with Broadcom.
Underneath the surface, however, rising infrastructure spend is beginning to fuel a supercycle in another area along the AI chip value chain: memory and storage.
Let's dig into why Micron Technology (MU 2.88%) is a savvy stock to buy right now as the AI infrastructure era unfolds.
Image source: Micron Technology.
Why Micron is the secret winner of the AI infrastructure supercycle
For years, Micron was perceived as a cyclical semiconductor business -- highly susceptible to boom and bust cycles as consumers upgrade their devices. The AI narrative is completely changing this view.
Developers like Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, and Tesla are building next-generation products featuring humanoid robots, self-driving cars, AI agents, and more. While GPUs help these applications come to life, they are most practical when it comes to training and inferencing models.
As AI workloads grow, big tech has found that it needs to broaden its budget spending to include more than just adequate capacity protocols. Today, the biggest bottleneck straining AI development is memory and storage.
Micron specializes in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) solutions, offering customers a comprehensive suite of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and NAND chips. Unsurprisingly, Micron's business saw a pronounced acceleration at this specific juncture in the AI boom.
Data by YCharts.
What does Micron's growth profile look like?
Micron's business is going to have a great year. How do I know that? Well, consider that management told investors that the company's existing inventory is already sold out. While this is terrific news for now, these supply and demand dynamics would not be a good thing in the long run.
For this reason, Micron is currently investing in additional manufacturing capacity in order to keep pace with soaring demand. Nevertheless, Wall Street is calling for Micron's revenue and profits to explode in 2026.
Data by YCharts.
This year, Micron's expected revenue of $76 billion represents 81% growth over its trailing-12-month sales, while the earnings-per-share (EPS) estimates are forecast to roughly triple.
Prediction: Micron stock will soar in 2026
Despite Micron's robust outlook, the company currently trades at a rather pedestrian forward price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 12. To put this into perspective, let's take a look at the forward P/E levels of other category leaders in the AI chip stack.
| Company | Forward P/E |
|---|---|
| Nvidia | 25 |
| Advanced Micro Devices | 32 |
| Broadcom | 34 |
| Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing | 27 |
| Average | 30 |
Image source: Yahoo Finance.
To be fair, Micron does not have the same addressable market as some of its chip cohorts. Nevertheless, the bigger takeaway is that Micron trades at a steep discount relative to other leading AI semiconductor stocks.
NASDAQ: MU
Key Data Points
From a macro perspective, consider the Nasdaq-100 index boasts a forward P/E of 25. Should Micron trade more in line with those levels, shares would reach $843 -- implying about 105% upside from current levels.
Doubling this year could prove daunting. Regardless, I see meaningful upside in Micron stock throughout 2026 and beyond. By the end of the year, I think an appropriate price range for Micron stock could be $650 or more.
