The memory-chip trade that dominated markets through the first half of 2026 has hit a wall. Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron have all fallen more than 20% from recent highs, dragging the Roundhill Memory ETF down 25% from its late-June peak and pushing an entire sector into bear market territory.
SK Hynix has been hit hardest, sliding 28% from its June record. Samsung dropped 23%, and Micron gave back 22% after earlier gains pushed its year-to-date return past 244%. SanDisk, which crushed the S&P 500 as the market’s top first-half performer with a 764% surge, also fell 22% from its peak.
The selloff reflects profit-taking after an extraordinary run rather than deteriorating fundamentals. Memory makers are still reporting record margins — Samsung and SK Hynix are approaching the 80% gross margin level that Micron posted in its most recent quarter — and long-term AI memory demand remains structurally bullish. HBM (high-bandwidth memory) supply is contracted through 2027 for all three major producers.
What changed is sentiment. Samsung’s record Q2 profit failed to impress investors who had already priced in perfection. Meanwhile, a class-action lawsuit filed in late June accuses Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron of engineering an artificial DRAM shortage to inflate prices. The lawsuit alleges the trio coordinated production cuts to maximize profits during the AI boom.
Analysts at Bloomberg and elsewhere caution that the correction could deepen. Bloomberg Opinion warned that “astonishing” memory profits invite regulatory scrutiny and customer pushback, with hyperscalers already negotiating long-term contracts at fixed rates to cap pricing exposure.
Despite the pullback, the memory sector’s combined market cap briefly touched $4.1 trillion in May, and the fundamental story — AI inference driving insatiable demand for both HBM and conventional DRAM — remains intact.
