Micron, SanDisk Slip as Chinese Memory Makers Expand

Micron Technology shares fell about 1.9% and SanDisk shares declined roughly 3% in premarket trading on Tuesday after Chinese suppliers ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) and Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) reported progress in high-bandwidth memory and NAND production.

CXMT has started producing small quantities of HBM3E and plans to expand output in 2027. Alibaba’s T-Head unit and chip designer Cambricon are testing CXMT’s HBM3E with their processors and could adopt the memory next year if testing is successful. HBM products are used in AI computing workloads.

Micron, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are developing HBM4. Micron reports it has been shipping HBM4 in volume since the first quarter, leaving CXMT behind on next-generation product and production scale. Production yields and qualification remain obstacles for new suppliers.

For SanDisk, the focus is on NAND flash. Counterpoint Research data showed YMTC supplied about 14% of global NAND bit shipments in the second quarter, ranking third by shipment volume. YMTC aims to be the top global NAND supplier by the end of 2027 and is seeking about 33 billion yuan, roughly $5 billion, in an initial public offering to fund capacity and research.

Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya expects “limited competition” from CXMT because the Chinese firm remains more exposed to consumer and commodity DRAM. BofA maintained a Buy rating on Micron with a $1,550 price target. Mizuho kept Outperform ratings on Micron and SanDisk, with targets of $1,300 and $1,875, citing continued DRAM demand.

Citi analyst Atif Malik identified Chinese capacity additions as the largest long-term risk to the memory market and projects both DRAM and NAND prices will decelerate quarter-over-quarter over the next four quarters, with potential price peaks around the second quarter of 2027.

Lynx Equity Research analyst KC Rajkumar described an earlier selloff tied to reports that Apple might source Chinese memory as an “overreaction,” pointing to supply constraints and customer qualification hurdles that limit how quickly new suppliers can win major enterprise contracts.

More NAND and HBM capacity from Chinese firms could affect global pricing even if those companies face restrictions in some markets. How quickly competition changes market shares will depend on production scale, yields and customer qualification timelines.