Micron, SK Hynix, and Western Digital shares retreat sharply after HBM supply expansion erodes pricing power and valuations.
Shares of leading memory chipmakers Micron, SK Hynix, and Western Digital have fallen 30 to 50 percent from recent highs as expanding high-bandwidth memory (HBM) supply weighs on premium pricing. The decline follows a more than 600 percent surge driven by AI infrastructure demand and component shortages.
Earlier this year, memory stocks rallied as hyperscalers raced to deploy AI capacity, creating bottlenecks in HBM, enterprise SSDs, and data-center storage. Suppliers commanded elevated prices, lifting valuations to levels that assumed sustained profitability. The KOSPI index has since dropped 29 percent in a month, with losses spreading to Nvidia and TSMC.
Analysts note memory stocks rarely find a bottom after the initial selloff, as current valuations still reflect expectations of prolonged high margins. Rising supply may further pressure earnings, raising doubts over whether the AI memory boom has peaked or merely paused.