Micron shares fall more than 17% in chip selloff as report cites Taiwan factory
Key Facts
Micron Technology shares fell more than 17% in Thursday's session on November 5, 2026, and closed at $656.39, down $138.84 from the previous close, according to Seeking Alpha. The decline came amid a broad selloff in chip stocks and companies linked to artificial intelligence. The drop coincided with a Reuters report citing Bloomberg that the company had suspended plans to build a new memory chip plant in Taiwan worth $4.5 billion. Bloomberg attributed the suspension to a prolonged labor dispute, but Reuters said it could not immediately verify the report. The project concerns Fab 11E in Taoyuan, not a confirmed halt in production at an existing facility.
Pressure spread across the sector, with the SOX semiconductor index falling as much as 11% during the session, its worst performance since March 2020, according to Reuters. The agency listed Micron alongside Dell and Marvell Technology among more than a dozen large technology companies whose shares posted double-digit declines. The S&P 500 also fell 4.4%, and the Nasdaq dropped 5.5% on Thursday, according to The Associated Press. The agency described the S&P 500's decline as its worst since “Liberation Day” tariffs shook global markets in April 2025. The Nasdaq fell 5% during the session, while technology stocks were heading for their worst performance since June, according to Reuters.
Reuters linked the selloff to a decline in available financing for participants in the data center expansion, as technology companies rely on major investments to build the infrastructure needed for artificial intelligence. The agency said the U.S. midterm elections saw dozens of local initiatives approved that could limit data center construction in the coming months and years. The Associated Press said Democratic election wins heightened concerns about a possible halt on such construction. According to the agency, those concerns weighed on AI stocks around the world. This puts semiconductor companies up against broader concerns about the pace at which customers are expanding infrastructure, alongside the report related to Micron's Taiwan project.
The selloff follows a series of declines in the AI sector during a month Reuters described as harsh, since the Nasdaq recorded a record close on October 6, 2026. Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investments, said the semiconductor index was down about 31% from its 52-week high. He described the sector's performance: “If you look at the semiconductor index, you'll find it is down about 31% from its 52-week high.” The comparison shows that pressure on Micron came in a session marked by a sharp sector-wide decline, not in the company's stock alone. Concerns about financing and potential limits on data center projects accompanied the decline.
The market pressure comes as Micron reported official revenue of $54.23 billion in the fourth quarter of its 2026 fiscal year, ended September 3. Revenue was $41.46 billion in the previous quarter and $11.32 billion in the same period of the prior fiscal year. These figures provide a backdrop to the company's performance ahead of the decline, while market concerns that day focused on technology stocks, data center expansion and the report about the Taiwan plant plans. Available sources did not establish that the project suspension, or any other single factor, alone caused the stock's entire loss. The session's context was therefore shaped by the project report coinciding with a broader selloff in AI-linked stocks.
Looking ahead, Micron forecast revenue of $61.5 billion, plus or minus $1.5 billion, for the first quarter of its 2027 fiscal year. The company said development of HBM4E memory, built on 1-gamma-generation DRAM technology, is underway, with volume production expected during 2027. These projections provide context on the company's operating plans after its fourth-quarter results, as the market monitors the trajectory of data center demand and companies' ability to finance their expansion. The information provided did not specify a later date for the Fab 11E project or resolution of the related labor dispute. The report that the plans had been suspended remained attributed to Bloomberg, with Reuters saying it could not immediately verify it.