Micron loses $94B as Broadcom AI guidance triggers $280B sector rout
In brief
- Micron shares fell 7.7% on June 4, steepest single-day decline on record.
- Broadcom AI chip revenue guidance of $16 billion missed expectations by $1.2 billion.
- Broadcom erased $280–$286 billion in market cap, largest one-day loss for any US company.
- AMD, Intel, ARM, and Marvell declined as investors rotated out of semiconductor stocks.
The trigger: Broadcom's guidance miss
Broadcom reported AI chip revenue guidance of $16 billion for the quarter, approximately $1.2 billion below what analysts had expected. The company also declined to raise its full-year AI semiconductor revenue target of $100 billion. That combination—a miss on near-term guidance coupled with a stalled outlook—shattered investor confidence in the sector's near-term trajectory.
Broadcom shares plunged as much as 15% during the trading session before closing down approximately 12.6%. The damage in absolute terms was historic. An estimated $280 to $286 billion in market capitalization evaporated in a single trading session.
Micron's steep descent
Micron bore the brunt of the contagion. Shares fell 7.7%, marking the company's steepest single-day value decline on record. The stock had climbed to around $1,089 before the sell-off, fueled by insatiable demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and DRAM chips powering AI infrastructure. Micron's market capitalization had exceeded $1 trillion before the decline.
The $94 billion evaporation in a single day underscores how quickly sentiment can reverse in markets priced for growth. Investors who'd bid Micron into trillion-dollar territory on the strength of AI demand suddenly reassessed the pace and sustainability of that demand.
Sector-wide rotation
The sell-off wasn't confined to Broadcom and Micron. AMD, Intel, ARM, and Marvell all saw their stocks decline as investors rushed for the exits. Money flowed into healthcare and financial stocks as investors rotated out of AI-related names.
The June 4 rout exposed a fragility in market confidence that had been masked by months of AI euphoria. A single miss from a bellwether supplier was enough to trigger a broad reassessment of valuations and growth assumptions across the entire semiconductor complex.
"The damage in dollar terms was staggering: an estimated $280 to $286 billion in market capitalization evaporated in a single trading session, making it the largest one-day market-cap loss for any US company in history." — Crypto Briefing reporting
