A memory chipmaker just leapfrogged two of the most valuable consumer tech companies on Earth.
Micron Technology briefly surpassed both Meta Platforms and Tesla in market capitalization Thursday, after a blowout fiscal third-quarter earnings report sent shares to an all-time high. The stock climbed as high as $1,255 in early trading before settling, with shares last up 18.4% at $1,236 for a market cap of $1.398 trillion.
Meta stood at $1.392 trillion, while Tesla held at $1.4 trillion. The moment marks the first time Micron has topped either company in valuation. The chipmaker crossed $1 trillion on May 26. It took less than a month to add nearly $400 billion.
What made Thursday's move stick was the sheer scale of the numbers behind it. Micron reported Q3 revenue of $41.46 billion, up 346% year over year and well above the $35.3 billion analysts expected. Earnings hit $25.11 per share, beating the $20.28 consensus. For Q4, the company forecasts revenue of $50 billion and diluted EPS of $31, plus or minus $1.
Deutsche Bank called the quarter "stunning" and said Micron "cleared a high bar, both financially and strategically." Analyst Melissa Weathers noted that pricing dynamics pushed revenue and margins to "extraordinary levels." The rally erased a recent slump in Micron's stock and prompted a wave of price target hikes.
DA Davidson raised its target to $2,000 from $1,500, arguing the company now enjoys some of the strongest visibility in the semiconductor industry. The firm said the results suggest "the memory cycle is far from over." That visibility comes from an unusual source: customer commitments.
Micron disclosed that its customers have committed $22 billion to lock in supplies of memory chips, a sign that AI infrastructure spending is driving structural demand rather than a temporary inventory build. The chipmaker's ascent mirrors a broader shift in market leadership. Memory makers including Samsung Electronics have joined the trillion-dollar club as Big Tech pours capital into AI data centers, each requiring massive amounts of high-bandwidth memory.
Micron, once dismissed as a cyclical commodity play, is now the direct beneficiary of an arms race that shows no signs of slowing.
