'Samsung Is Back': More Headaches for Micron (MU) as Key Rival Praises HBM4 Chip
Samsung's co-CEO highlighted the competitiveness of its new HBM4 chip, potentially hindering Micron's market share growth. Samsung and SK Hynix dominate the HBM and DRAM markets, with Micron trailing behind. Despite challenges, analysts remain optimistic about Micron, predicting strong demand for memory chips into 2026, with a projected HBM market value of $100 billion by 2028. Micron's shares have surged nearly 240% in 2025, and analysts rate it as a Strong Buy, with a price target suggesting an 11% growth potential.
American chipmaker Micron's (MU) hopes of closing the memory-chip market share gap with South Korean market leader Samsung Electronics (SSNL) may have just been dashed.
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In his New Year's address, Samsung's co-chief executive, Jun Young-hyun, noted that the HBM4 chip — the firm's next-generation of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips — "is showing differentiated competitiveness."
HBM is an ultra-fast stacked memory technology that enhances performance for artificial intelligence and data-intensive workloads. Some customers have also remarked that "Samsung is back," Jun added, noting that Samsung will take bold action to rebuild its core technological edge in the memory market.
Samsung and SK Hynix Maintain Lead in HBM Market
Jun's comment comes at a time when the severe shortage of Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) chips is pushing memory prices to record highs, even as memory suppliers are shifting capacity away from consumer products such as personal computers and smartphones, toward higher-margin uses in AI servers.
DRAM technology is used for short-term data storage, allowing computers and servers to run smoothly and handle multiple tasks at once. HBM and DRAM are part of the essential infrastructure for AI applications, gaming, and cloud computing infrastructure.
Samsung and SK Hynix are the global leaders of the DRAM and HBM markets. As of the third quarter of 2025, SK Hynix led the market with 34% market share, followed closely by Samsung with 33%, with Micron taking third place with 26%, according to data from research firm Counterpoint.
Wall Street Backs Micron into 2026
However, Samsung has been working to expand into contract chip manufacturing and to take on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM), the world's biggest chip foundry. In July, it secured a $16.5 billion deal to produce Tesla's (TSLA) next-generation high-performance compute A16 chip at its Texas factory.
Yet, the South Korean chipmaker remains active in the HBM/DRAM market, and as of October held talks to supply the HBM4 chips to top U.S. chip designer Nvidia (NVDA).
On Wall Street, analysts remain confident in Micron — the chipmaker's shares surged nearly 240% in 2025 and recently hit a record high — as they expect the demand for memory chips to remain strong into 2026. The HBM market is anticipated to be worth $100 billion by 2028.
Is MU a Good Stock to Buy?
Across Wall Street, Micron's shares remain a Strong Buy based on analysts' consensus. This breaks down to 26 Buys and two Holds assigned by 28 Wall Street analysts over the past three months. Moreover, the average MU price target of $316.81 suggests an 11% growth potential from the current level.
