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Micron Technology and SanDisk shares cratered in premarket trading on June 23, with losses of roughly 8.4% and 9% respectively, after South Korea’s stock market suffered one of its worst single-day selloffs of the year.
The KOSPI index fell close to 10%, dragged down by memory chip giants SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, both of which dropped over 12%. Because those two companies collectively dominate global DRAM and NAND flash supply chains, the damage didn’t stay contained to Seoul.
What happened in South Korea, and why it matters here
Micron, the third major DRAM manufacturer globally, saw its shares fall approximately 8.4% to 8.5% in early premarket action. SanDisk, the Western Digital spinoff that has been one of the more remarkable stories of this AI cycle, dropped around 9%.
The broader semiconductor space didn’t escape either. The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) was down around 5.9% during early trading hours, while other chip names like AMD and Intel also posted losses.
Analysts attribute the move to what the industry calls “sympathy trading”: investors saw Korean chip stocks getting hammered and preemptively sold US chip stocks because the companies compete in the same markets and are exposed to the same pricing dynamics for DRAM and NAND flash memory.
A pattern that keeps repeating in 2026
This isn’t the first time it’s happened this year. On March 3, a similar episode played out when energy price fears triggered a broader Korean market selloff. Micron fell 7% that day while SanDisk lost 6.8%.
Then again on May 12, comments from a Korean policymaker sent local stocks lower, and US memory names followed the same script.
SanDisk’s wild ride and the AI connection
SanDisk deserves special attention because of the sheer magnitude of its run-up before this pullback. The company, spun off from Western Digital, has seen gains exceeding 4,000% tied to surging demand from AI data centers.
For Micron, the company competes directly with SK Hynix in high-bandwidth memory (HBM), the specific type of DRAM used in AI accelerators.
What this means for investors watching the chip sector
Based on available analyst commentary, the Korean selloff reflects temporary, sentiment-driven contagion rather than something fundamentally broken. The March episode took the better part of two weeks to unwind for Micron, and SanDisk’s recovery was similarly drawn out.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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