Jim Cramer Doubles Down on Memory Chip Stocks, Says $MU and Peers Still Have Room to Run

Jim Cramer named four memory and storage chip makers — $MU, $SNDK, $STX, and $WDC — that he calls "indispensable," saying, "While I acknowledge that I am not early, I do not think I am late," according to CNBC. As of August 18, SanDisk had surged 653% in 2026, Seagate had climbed 261%, Micron had gained 254%, and Western Digital had risen 211%. Cramer tied the rally to Elon Musk's comments on SpaceX's second-quarter earnings call about memory supply constraining AI data center buildouts, saying "Musk is right: Memory has become the bottleneck."
Cramer's Charitable Trust recently opened a new Micron position during a pullback tied to a selloff among South Korean semiconductor stocks, calling it his top pick of the group. Micron's HBM and DRAM capacity is reportedly sold out through 2027, with AI data centers projected to consume roughly 70% of global memory chip production, and Micron has committed $22 billion in advance cash deposits to secure future supply, according to TheStreet. George Soros's fund increased its Micron stake nearly eightfold in the second quarter, and Micron shares reclaimed the $1,000 mark on August 17 for the first time since July.
Not all analysts agree the historical boom-bust memory cycle is over — Micron remains fundamentally cyclical, and Wall Street is split on how far the rally can run, though New Street's Pierre Ferragu recently raised his price target significantly, arguing the current cycle is structurally different from prior ones. Broader AI financing risk also looms: $NVDA announced partnerships with Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield,