Memory and Gold Surge in Tandem: Blockbuster Earnings Ignite Storage Stocks, Gold Prices Soar, and Intel Rallies on Foundry Momentum

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Strong earnings from memory industry leaders once again ignited market enthusiasm overnight, sending related stocks sharply higher. Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) rose more than 6%, Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) surged nearly 20%, while Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) and SanDisk Corp (NASDAQ:SNDK) climbed about 10% each, all hitting record highs.

Storage giant Seagate Technology delivered a quarterly earnings report that far exceeded Wall Street expectations, with both revenue and profit posting significant growth. The company also reported record-high gross margin and operating margin. According to Seagate’s latest financial results, revenue for fiscal 2026 second quarter reached USD 2.825 billion, up 21.5% from USD 2.325 billion a year earlier. Non-GAAP earnings per share came in at USD 3.11, well above USD 2.03 in the prior-year period. Gross margin improved markedly to 42.2%, compared with 35.5% a year ago.

The company also guided for third-quarter revenue of USD 2.9 billion (plus or minus USD 100 million), above analysts’ expectations of USD 2.77 billion. Adjusted earnings per share are forecast at USD 3.40 (plus or minus USD 0.20), also exceeding the market consensus of USD 2.96. Seagate Chairman and CEO Dave Mosley said the company’s areal-density-driven product roadmap enables it to meet modern data centers’ demand for exabyte-scale storage solutions that combine performance and cost efficiency. As artificial intelligence applications expand data creation and economic value, this positioning is expected to generate long-term value for customers and shareholders.

SK hynix also reported its strongest quarterly performance in history, with fourth-quarter operating profit more than doubling year over year to KRW 19.2 trillion (USD 13.5 billion), beating the average analyst estimate of KRW 16.7 trillion. Revenue climbed to KRW 32.8 trillion. As a major supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for NVIDIA’s AI accelerators, SK hynix shares have roughly tripled since early September, with valuation expansion leading Asian technology stocks. The company also disclosed plans to cancel approximately USD 8.6 billion worth of treasury shares next month as part of efforts to enhance shareholder returns. It reiterated that it is considering a U.S. listing, though no decision has yet been made.

Previously, Sassine Ghazi, CEO of Synopsys, the global leader in EDA and semiconductor IP, said in an interview that the chip “shortage” would persist through 2026 and 2027. Ghazi noted that most of the world’s top manufacturers’ memory chips are currently flowing directly into AI infrastructure, while many other products also require memory, leaving those markets constrained by insufficient capacity. He added that Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, and Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU), the world’s largest memory companies, are working to expand production, but achieving their capacity expansion goals will take at least two years—one of the key reasons the shortage is expected to persist.

“Right now is a golden period for memory companies,” Ghazi said, adding that rising memory prices mean consumer electronics companies may have to consider raising prices—a trend that is “already happening.”

Spot gold climbed close to USD 5,600 per ounce overnight, sending gold stocks broadly higher. Newmont (NYSE:NEM) rose nearly 4%, Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) gained more than 3%, Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI) jumped nearly 9%, and Harmony Gold (NYSE:HMY) surged over 7%, all reaching record highs.

Gold has already surged nearly 30% year to date on top of last year’s record rally, supported by rising geopolitical and economic uncertainty, expectations of U.S. rate cuts, and increased central bank purchases amid global de-dollarization trends. Citi sees gold potentially reaching USD 6,000 per ounce under a bull-case scenario, while Société Générale also forecasts prices at USD 6,000 per ounce this year, up from its December projection of USD 5,000.

Agnico Eagle Mines CEO Ammar Al-Joundi previously said: “No one knows how high gold prices could go next week or next month. The fundamental drivers behind gold’s rise are still there—government spending, plus the catalyst we experienced a few years ago when the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out and Russia was removed from the SWIFT system.”

“And now there’s a new catalyst: the orderly world we live in seems to be becoming less orderly, which clearly has implications for currency markets—and gold plays a role in that,” he added. Al-Joundi noted that central banks in countries such as China are rethinking their allocations to U.S. Treasuries and increasing gold purchases. “With annual gold supply growth being minimal and new mines taking at least ten years to develop, he expects supply to remain tight. You won’t see a flood of gold entering the market,” he said.

Many analysts have attributed the unprecedented rally in gold and silver at the start of the new year partly to rising uncertainty surrounding the Federal Reserve’s political independence; however, Fed Chair Jerome Powell dismissed such concerns at his monetary policy press conference.

“It’s been said that we’re losing credibility, but that’s simply not the case. If you look at where inflation expectations are, our credibility is right where it should be,” Powell said. “We won’t get ‘overexcited’ about price movements in any particular asset, though we do monitor them.”

While the Fed’s neutral stance could pose a potential headwind for gold, many analysts do not see it as a major obstacle. Nitesh Shah, Head of Commodities and Macroeconomic Research at WisdomTree, told Kitco News that although Powell is comfortable keeping rates unchanged in the coming months, markets are already looking beyond May, when Powell may be replaced. “It’s quite possible that Powell will be succeeded by someone more inclined toward rate cuts,” Shah said. “That’s what gold is focused on.”

Powell also offered a measured view on geopolitical risks, noting that while uncertainty remains, oil prices have stayed relatively stable and the U.S. economy has withstood global trade volatility. Analysts pointed out that geopolitical uncertainty is another key driver behind gold’s sharp rise so far this month.

Amid multiple positive catalysts, Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) surged more than 11% overnight.

Following Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) is also planning to shift part of its chip manufacturing to Intel’s foundry business. NVIDIA is expected to collaborate with Intel on its Feynman architecture platform slated for launch in 2028.

According to a Wednesday report by DIGITIMES, supply chain sources revealed that NVIDIA will adopt a strategy of “small volume, lower-tier, non-core” cooperation with Intel. The GPU core chips will continue to be manufactured by TSMC (NYSE:TSM), while some I/O chips will use Intel’s 18A or its planned 14A process, which is scheduled for mass production in 2028, with final advanced packaging handled by Intel’s EMIB technology. Based on the proportion of advanced packaging, Intel could account for up to 25%, with TSMC taking about 75%.

After NVIDIA announced a USD 5 billion investment in Intel in September 2025, the latest plan involves collaboration with Intel on the Feynman architecture chips, the successor to the Rubin series. Supply chain sources said that under the Trump administration’s push for U.S. manufacturing and tariff pressures, major U.S. chipmakers had long discussed cooperation with Intel. However, as the 18A process did not meet customer expectations, the collaboration timeline is more likely to align with the 14A process reaching mass production in 2028. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan recently stated that two customers are currently evaluating the specifics of the 14A process.

In addition, according to SEC filings, Intel CFO David Zinsner purchased USD 249,985 worth of Intel shares at USD 42.5 per share on January 26, marking the first insider purchase since 2024.

Micron’s $24 Billion Investment in NAND Factory, Stock Hits New Highs; Meta and Corning Secure Long-Term Deal, GM Surges on Strong 2026 Guidance

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Micron Technology(MU) to Invest $24 Billion in New NAND Factory, Stock Surges Over 5%, Continues to Hit New Highs

On Tuesday, Micron Technology announced a $24 billion investment over the next decade in Singapore to build a new NAND flash wafer fab to address the tight supply of memory chips driven by AI demand. The new facility will be Singapore’s first dual-layer wafer fab, with a cleanroom area of 700,000 square feet. Wafer production is expected to begin in the second half of 2028. This project is expected to create approximately 1,600 jobs.

Singapore is already one of Micron’s key NAND production hubs. Earlier in 2025, Micron announced plans to invest $7 billion in Singapore over the next few years to expand its manufacturing capacity and meet the advanced memory chip demand required for AI training. Micron has long relied on Singapore and Japan as its key production bases. The new wafer fab will work in conjunction with the HBM advanced packaging factory that is already under construction, further strengthening Singapore’s critical role in the global memory supply chain. Micron’s investment aligns with Singapore’s strategy to develop cutting-edge industries, from AI to advanced chip manufacturing. The Singapore government has pledged to invest over 1 billion SGD in domestic AI research.

As AI infrastructure drives a surge in NAND demand, Micron and its South Korean competitors, SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, have shifted their production focus to high-end AI chips, resulting in storage chip shortages for PC and smartphone manufacturers. Micron’s massive expansion is a key part of its global capacity strategy. In addition to the Singapore project, the company has just launched a $100 billion plant project in New York to ease what it calls an “unprecedented supply crunch.”

Meta Platforms(META) Secures $6 Billion Long-Term Supply Agreement with Corning, Stock Hits Record Highs

Tech giant Meta Platforms has secured a long-term supply agreement worth up to $6 billion with veteran glass manufacturer Corning to supply fiber optic cables needed for its data centers. This deal underscores the growing AI arms race, which is rapidly expanding from algorithmic models to underlying hardware infrastructure.

Under the agreement, Meta will pay Corning this amount by 2030 to ensure its ambitious global data center construction plans, particularly for AI applications, have access to the critical data transmission “veins.” This move directly complements Meta’s announcement in November of last year that it plans to invest $600 billion in the U.S. by 2028 to build data centers and infrastructure.

According to CNBC’s exclusive report, Corning will primarily supply fiber optic cables for connecting data centers internally and across regions. These fibers are the backbone of AI computing, transmitting massive amounts of data at near light speeds between thousands of GPUs. The two largest data centers Meta is currently building—its 1GW “Prometheus” data center in New Albany, Ohio, and the 5GW “Hyperion” data center in Richland Parish, Louisiana—will both use Corning’s fiber optic products.

General Motors(GM) Surges Nearly 9% After Strong 2026 Earnings Guidance

On Tuesday, General Motors released its latest financial report, which showed a 5.1% year-on-year decline in revenue for Q4 2025, amounting to $45.29 billion, falling short of the analyst consensus of $45.8 billion. The company reported a net loss attributable to shareholders of $3.31 billion, compared to a net loss of $2.96 billion in the same period last year. The adjusted EBIT margin was 6.3%, up from 5.3% in the previous year. Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) stood at $2.51, a 30.4% year-on-year increase, surpassing the consensus estimate of $2.20.

Looking ahead, General Motors expects adjusted EBIT for 2026 to range between $13 billion and $15 billion, with the midpoint of this range above the analyst consensus of $13.39 billion. The company expects net income to be between $10.3 billion and $11.7 billion and adjusted EPS to range from $11.00 to $13.00, with the midpoint above the consensus estimate of $11.73. Additionally, GM’s board of directors announced an increase in the quarterly dividend by $0.03 to $0.18 per share and approved a new $6 billion stock repurchase plan.

The company’s earnings guidance highlights that strong sales of high-priced new models and a favorable regulatory environment are driving profit growth. Even though the U.S. new car market is expected to shrink slightly this year, and some imported vehicles and components face tariff impacts, the automaker still expects to generate sufficient profits to increase returns to shareholders.