Red hot AI demand pushes more companies into the $1 trillion club

Artificial intelligenceRed hot AI demand pushes more companies into the $1 trillion clubMicron Technology and South Korea’s SK Hynix hit the mark this week. Wall Street expects even more AI-driven stock market growth this year.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00The Micron Technology Inc. headquarters in Boise, Idaho, in 2024.Jeremy Erickson / Bloomberg via Getty Images fileShareAdd NBC News to GoogleMay 27, 2026, 2:35 PM EDTBy Steve KopackArtificial intelligence euphoria hit a new level this week, as two chipmakers hit $1 trillion in stock market value. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Driven by skyrocketing demand for chips that supply memory for AI, Micron Technology on Tuesday surged past the mark for its first time ever. South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix also joined the trillion-dollar club Wednesday. Their ascent has been rapid. Only 48 days earlier, Micron hit a $500 billion value. Its journey to the trillion-dollar milestone happened faster than those of major companies such as Meta, Amazon, Nvidia, Walmart and Tesla, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal. SK Hynix’s shares have surged more than 200% this year.Hitting the once-rare trillion-dollar mark is becoming more frequent in a market driven by insatiable demand for artificial intelligence. Since Apple first broke the trillion-dollar level in 2018, eleven more U.S. companies have followed. Earlier this month, another one of the world’s biggest suppliers of memory, Samsung, also hit $1 trillion.There’s likely more AI-driven market growth to come, Wall Street analysts say.Predicting that earnings will grow by 24% this year, strategists at Goldman Sachs said half of that will come from companies that are “the beneficiaries of AI infrastructure investment.”On Tuesday morning, UBS analysts threw more fuel on the fire, tripling their price target for Micron to $1,625 from $535 per share. Micron shares quickly surged...