Investing Legend John Templeton Has a Warning for Micron and SK Hynix Investors

3 hours ago 1

Adam Levy, The Motley Fool

Sat, July 18, 2026 astatine 1:20 PM CDT 5 min read

Memory chipmakers person been immoderate of the biggest winners of the artificial quality (AI) roar successful 2026. As ample connection models expand, representation has proven to beryllium 1 of the biggest bottlenecks successful galore systems, driving insatiable request for chips to bundle with AI accelerators and graphics processing units (GPUs).

That spike successful request has led to a commensurate spike successful pricing since it takes a agelong clip for chipmakers to grow their manufacturing capacity. The effect is grounds profits for the fistful of companies that marque representation chips, specified arsenic Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) and SK Hynix (NASDAQ: SKHY).

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Many investors person piled into these stocks connected the content that the existent AI build-out is acold from peaking. What's more, there's increasing sentiment that the crisp net cycles that person plagued the manufacture for decades could beryllium a happening of the past owed to the structural demands of AI. As a result, investors should beryllium consenting to wage a higher terms for the representation chipmakers' net today.

But investing fable John Templeton erstwhile shared a timeless portion of contented that Micron and SK Hynix investors should heed. Investors are astatine hazard of making the aforesaid mistake galore others person successful the past.

An bureau   gathering  with a motion   successful  beforehand   with the Micron logo.

Image source: Micron Technology.

The chorus is increasing louder

The 4 astir unsafe words successful investing are "this clip it's different," according to Templeton. Templeton utilized the operation arsenic a informing against marketplace bubbles and crashes successful which valuations deviate from humanities norms. The underlying reasoning that the marketplace tin enactment higher pricing oregon volition ne'er crook astir ever comes backmost to the aforesaid phrase: This clip it's different. In fact, the much often you perceive oregon work those words, the much skeptical you should go of their accuracy.

There's a increasing chorus of investors claiming that this clip it's antithetic for representation chipmakers. Micron and SK Hynix are nary longer selling the immense bulk of their chips to user instrumentality manufacturers; they're going to AI hyperscalers. That's a immense structural displacement successful request that removes overmuch of the variability caused by user sentiment and macroeconomic factors, truthful the statement goes.

But specified reasoning besides suggests that this clip it's antithetic for the exertion concern cycle. There are countless examples of monolithic superior spending projects yet collapsing: Railroad, telecom, and net infrastructure are 3 of the astir prominent. To deliberation AI volition beryllium antithetic is folly. That doesn't mean AI won't beryllium a transformational technology, conscionable arsenic railroads, telecommunications, and the net were, but it does mean the level of superior spending is improbable to turn forever.

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