Key Points

Nvidia has been the pioneer in AI technology, but it could be overshadowed on the stock market by the memory specialist Micron Technology.

The huge demand for memory chips has supercharged this company's growth, and it is trading at a very attractive valuation.

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Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) has made investors significantly richer in the past five years. An investment of just $100 in this semiconductor giant five years ago is now worth $1,360.

Nvidia's remarkable gains have been fueled by the terrific demand for the company's artificial intelligence (AI) chips. It is now the world's largest company with a market cap of just over $4.4 trillion. As such, it would be difficult for Nvidia to replicate its remarkable gains in the next five years.

Its huge market cap, premium valuation, and the rising competition in the AI chip market could weigh on its stock performance through 2030, even though there is a good chance that it may become a $10 trillion company by the end of the decade. However, there is another semiconductor stock that's not just extremely cheap right now but is growing at a phenomenal pace.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) manufactures memory chips used in data centers, computers, smartphones, and automotive applications. Let's look at the reasons why this company could outperform Nvidia over the next five years.

Image source: Micron Technology

Micron Technology is on track to clock stunning growth through 2030

The demand for the memory chips that Micron manufactures is booming, thanks to AI. The high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips that it makes are deployed in large quantities by companies like Nvidia, AMD, Broadcom, Marvell, and others to transport huge amounts of data at high speeds at lower power consumption and low latency to enable AI workloads in data centers.

And edge AI devices such as smartphones and computers are now requiring higher dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and storage to run AI workloads. This demand for memory is so strong that there is a shortage of these chips, leading to an increase in prices.

This explains why Micron's latest results for the first quarter of fiscal 2026 (which ended Nov. 27) blew past expectations. The stock rose 8% in extended trading after reporting on Dec. 17. Micron's revenue shot up 57% year over year to $13.6 billion, while adjusted earnings jumped by 167% to $4.78 per share.

The company's cloud memory business nearly doubled year over year to $5.3 billion, driven by AI, allowing Micron to crush Wall Street's expectations. The guidance was the icing on the cake. Micron expects its fiscal second-quarter revenue to jump by a multiple of 2.3 year over year in the current quarter to $18.7 billion. Adjusted earnings are projected to increase by a huge 440% to $8.42 per share.