Jim Cramer Doubles Down on Bullish Call for Memory Chip Stocks

Jim Cramer named Micron ($MU), SanDisk ($SNDK), Seagate, and Western Digital as "indispensable" memory and storage chip makers, saying on Mad Money that despite steep gains this year, "I am not early... I do not think I am late," according to CNBC. As of August 18, SanDisk was up 653% in 2026, Seagate 261%, Micron 254%, and Western Digital 211%.
Cramer tied the rally to Elon Musk's comments on SpaceX's Q2 earnings call about memory supply constraining AI data center buildouts, saying "Musk is right: Memory has become the bottleneck," per Yahoo Finance. Cramer's Charitable Trust recently opened a new Micron position during a pullback tied to a selloff in South Korean semiconductor stocks, and called Micron his top pick among the group.
The bull case centers on AI data centers consuming roughly 70% of global memory chip production, with Micron's HBM and DRAM capacity sold out through 2027 and $22 billion committed in advance customer cash deposits to secure supply, according to TheStreet. George Soros's fund increased its Micron stake nearly eightfold in Q2, and Micron shares reclaimed the $1,000 mark on August 17 for the first time since July. New Street's Pierre Ferragu has issued a notably higher price target, arguing the market underestimates how different this cycle is from prior ones.
Skeptics point to broader AI infrastructure risk: short seller Michael Burry predicted in July that the AI trade would "die a death by a thousand cuts," while a Gallup poll from March found 71% of Americans opposed having an AI data center built near them. Bank of America has pushed back, calling the recent memory-stock selloff a buying opportunity.