Retail traders pile into memory chipmakers as AI boom squeezes supplies, lifts prices

By Shashwat Chauhan

Jan 14 (Reuters) - Retail investors ramped up buying of U.S. representation and information retention chipmakers successful January, pursuing 2025's beardown momentum connected expectations ​that booming artificial quality infrastructure request volition tighten proviso and assistance prices.

An acute ‌global shortage of representation chips is forcing AI and consumer-electronics companies to combat for dwindling supplies, which is ‌expected to enactment a multi-year backlog for representation spot makers.

Samsung's co-CEO TM Roh described the representation spot shortage arsenic "unprecedented" successful an interrogation with Reuters earlier this month, echoing rivals who person warned that constraints could persist for months, if not years, arsenic the AI infrastructure contention continues to ⁠hog supplies.

Data retention instrumentality shaper SanDisk, ‌whose shares person soared astir 65% truthful acold successful 2026, saw much than $7.1 cardinal successful retail inflows connected Monday alone, the biggest one-day ‍move connected record, according to information from Vanda Research.

Western Digital has seen astir $10 cardinal successful inflows successful the archetypal 2 weeks of January, putting it connected people for the strongest monthly showing since ​October 2025, portion Seagate Technology recorded much than $2.1 cardinal of inflows truthful acold this ‌year.

2025 was a grounds twelvemonth for U.S. retail inflows arsenic idiosyncratic investors became a large unit down the rally connected Wall Street. Total flows from mom-and-pop traders for these 3 stocks stood astatine much than $117.2 cardinal past year.

Micron Technology, 1 of the "Big Three" representation makers successful the satellite alongside Samsung and SK Hynix , is up 18% truthful acold successful ⁠2026 aft rising 240% successful 2025.

"Memory chips are ​certainly among the themes that are breathtaking our customers ​these days. It's not antithetic to spot No. 3 Micron positioned among the leaders, but seeing SanDisk successful the No. 4 slot tells america that ‍it is much than ⁠simply a coincidence," said Steve Sosnick, main strategist astatine Interactive Brokers.

Micron and SanDisk were among the 5 astir progressive stocks connected Interactive Brokers' level implicit the ⁠past 5 trading days, Sosnick said.

SanDisk, whose shares person risen astir ten-fold since its February 2025 listing, is ‌the biggest holding of the actively managed Roundhill Meme Stock ETF.

(Reporting by Shashwat ‌Chauhan successful Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)