Western Digital Stock Jumps Over 6% as Memory Rally Accelerates

Micron Technology announced on September 15 the successful demonstration of a 512GB DDR5 RDIMM memory module for servers, which the company says is the first of its kind in the world. The module reaches speeds of up to 9,200 MT/s and can enable as much as 12TB of DDR5 DRAM in a 24-slot dual-socket server. Micron said the 512GB module consumes 16 watts, more than 60% less power than the 44.2 watts consumed by four 128GB modules providing the same capacity, and delivers up to 1.4 times higher performance than 256GB DDR5 configurations in certain analytics workloads. AMD and Intel are validating the technology for next-generation server platforms, though volume production is not expected until the back half of 2027, limiting its near-term impact on Micron's earnings. Separately, Micron said in June that its 16 strategic customer agreements were expected to provide $22 billion in cash deposits and related financial commitments, alongside $100 billion in remaining performance obligations from agreements already signed.

Jensen Huang said Nvidia expects to sell twice as many chips over the coming year, a forecast that runs ahead of the company's own written guidance. Speaking to reporters at an artificial intelligence gathering convened by King Charles III in Scotland, Huang gave the unit figure, while Nvidia has guided to about 70% revenue growth for the fiscal year ending in January 2028, or roughly $673 billion. If units double while revenue grows 70%, average revenue per chip falls by roughly 15%. Nvidia reported second-quarter revenue of $96.2 billion, up 106% from a year earlier, with data center sales of $89.0 billion and a 75.0% gross margin, and guided third-quarter revenue to $108 billion, plus or minus 2%. The company has said gross margin will decline and bottom out in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2027 at 71% to 72%, partly because of memory prices, a trough that arrives before the unit doubling does. At the same event, King Charles III told executives from Nvidia, OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic that the industry needs sufficient means of control before it is too late, and Huang argued that safety belongs to individual companies rather than a coordinated pause.

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time since July 2023 on Wednesday, a move that sent the S&P 500 lower before it recovered later in the day. Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh said at the Fed meeting that a wide-ranging set of data, including the labor markets, showed the economy has strengthened, giving the Fed confidence the economy can absorb the hike without falling into recession. According to the latest dot plot, 16 of 18 participants penciled in another increase this year, with four expecting two more. Rising oil prices are pushing up production costs and consumer prices, while the artificial intelligence buildout is driving memory prices sharply higher as hyperscalers demand scarce memory products, and Apple has said it will raise some prices. The annual inflation rate has not fallen to the Fed's 2% target, and the Fed declined to raise rates in July in hopes the situation in Iran would resolve, but it has not and inflation is creeping up again.