Micron’s Trading Volume Eclipse Nvidia Ends in Steep Correction as China’s AI Chip Shift Accelerates

Micron drops 9% on US-China chip export deadlock despite record 196% revenue surge; BofA raises target to $950, but insider sales add caution.

The week began with a milestone that underscored just how frothy the memory-chip market had become: Micron Technology briefly surpassed Nvidia as the most actively traded stock on Wall Street, with an average daily turnover of roughly $47 billion against Nvidia’s $34 billion. It ended with the shares nursing a 9 percent drop from a fresh 52-week high of €685.40, closing at €624.00 on Friday — a single-session loss of 8.11 percent. The reversal was swift and brutal, yet it left a year-to-date advance of roughly 132 percent intact, a reminder that even the most powerful rallies can stall when geopolitics intrudes.

A Geopolitical Shockwave Through the Semiconductor Supply Chain

The catalyst was not a Micron-specific problem but a cloud over the entire US chip complex. Reports emerged that no agreement had been reached between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping on allowing Chinese technology giants to purchase Nvidia’s advanced H200 AI processors. Until recently, the market had priced in a potential relaxation of US export controls; its absence sent a jolt through investors already wary of Beijing’s determination to build a self-sufficient semiconductor ecosystem.

The numbers paint a stark picture. Nvidia’s share of China’s AI chip market is estimated to have collapsed from roughly 95 percent to just 8 percent. In the first quarter of 2026, Chinese domestic suppliers captured more than 55 percent of that market for the first time. For Micron, the concern is not a direct loss of Chinese orders for its memory chips, but the knock-on effect on the broader AI infrastructure buildout. If Alibaba, ByteDance and other Chinese hyperscalers slow their purchases of US-designed accelerators, the downstream demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) could take a hit — even if Micron’s own HBM capacity for the rest of 2026 is already fully contracted.

Fundamentals That Contradict the Selloff

The selling pressure came despite a string of superlatives from the company’s operating performance. In its fiscal second quarter, Micron posted revenue of $23.86 billion, a year-over-year surge of 196 percent. For the current third fiscal quarter, management is guiding for $33.5 billion in revenue, implying growth of 260 percent, and a non-GAAP gross margin of approximately 81 percent. Earnings per share are expected to come in at $18.90.

Bank of America added to the bullish narrative midweek, raising its price target on Micron to $950 from $500 while reiterating a buy rating. The bank’s analysts now see the addressable market for AI datacenter systems reaching $1.7 trillion by 2030, up from a prior estimate of $1.4 trillion — a tailwind for Micron’s memory solutions embedded in AI accelerators and server architectures.

Insider Sales and Technical Signals Add Caution

Yet the rally’s exhaustion had been building beneath the surface. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sold shares worth just over $21 million in early May under a preset trading plan, part of a three-month wave of insider disposals totaling approximately $52 million. Such sales are common after extraordinary price moves, but they add a psychological weight when the stock is technically overheated. The relative strength index of 77 — into overbought territory — and Friday’s unusually heavy volume pointed squarely to institutional profit-taking.

The supply side of the equation offers some comfort to long-term holders. SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won recently warned that wafer shortages could persist into 2030, while new DRAM capacity is not expected to come online in meaningful volumes until late 2027. That scarcity underpins Micron’s pricing power and helps justify its 12-month gain of more than 630 percent.

The Next Test Looms

Investors will have to wait until late June for the next hard data point, when Micron reports its fiscal third-quarter results. If the numbers land near the $33.5 billion revenue target, the correction is likely to be viewed as a healthy valuation cooling. Weakness in cloud orders or renewed escalation in China trade tensions, however, would provide fresh ammunition for bears. For now, the stock still trades roughly 50 percent above its 50-day moving average — a reminder that the fundamental story remains intact, even as the political clouds gather.