Perplexity AI co-founder and CEO Aravind Srinivas has predicted that semiconductor giant Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) could soon surpass Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in market capitalization.
Srinivas argues that global tech dominance is shifting entirely toward hardware providers, explaining that severe physical supply chain constraints have become the primary factor determining Wall Street’s biggest artificial intelligence winners.
Capitalizing On Hardware Choke Point
Speaking in a recent podcast with Harry Stebbings, Srinivas explained that software platforms and AI models are facing rapid commoditization, shifting true economic leverage back to physical infrastructure.
The massive rise of autonomous AI agents has triggered an insatiable demand for high-performance memory (HPM) and enterprise processors, causing hardware supply chains to tighten globally.
“Whatever is the bottleneck will command the price,” Srinivas asserted, dismissing assertions that memory and infrastructure stocks have already peaked. He noted that hardware suppliers hold absolute pricing power because market demand vastly outstrips global manufacturing capacity.
Shifting Big Tech Valuations
This ongoing hardware deficit is poised to disrupt the traditional hierarchy of trillion-dollar tech giants.
Srinivas pointed out that Micron is rapidly closing the valuation gap with major software and social media platforms, a trajectory driven by critical shortages that have already seen certain component costs surge fivefold.
“It might not be inconceivable that Micron, the supplier of HPMs, might be more valuable than Meta in the next 6 to 12 months,” Srinivas stated.
While consumer platforms face heavy capital expenditure costs to maintain engagement, memory manufacturers directly control the essential components required to keep the global AI ecosystem running.
The New Infrastructure Economy
According to the CEO, long-term market value belongs exclusively to companies that solve the physical friction of AI scale. As public resistance and power grid limitations slow down data center buildouts, physical hardware layers will remain structural choke points.
Consequently, institutional investors are expected to steadily reallocate capital away from traditional software providers to fund the hardware anchoring the AI boom.
How Has MU Performed In 2026?
Shares of MU have surged by 257.65% year-to-date. It closed 6.18% lower at $1,020.76 apiece on Tuesday, and it was up 3.50% in premarket on Wednesday.
Over the last month, MU stock was up 40.86%, and it fell 339.02% over the last six months; the stock was 751.77% higher over the year. Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that MU maintains a strong price trend in the long, medium, and short terms, with a poor value score.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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