Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) was up almost 17% ahead of the market’s opening on Thursday, after unveiling a surprise second-quarter profit, driven by the artificial intelligence boom.
At US$0.42, second-quarter adjusted earnings per share towered above analysts’ expectations for a US$0.25 loss.
This was also up on a US$1.91 per-share loss reported by the computer memory and storage firm a year earlier.
An almost 60% jump in revenue to US$5.82 billion also beat market expectations meanwhile, with LSEG analysts having anticipated the figure to sit at US$5.35 billion.
“We believe Micron is one of the biggest beneficiaries in the semiconductor industry of the multi-year opportunity enabled by AI,” chief executive Sanjay Mehrotra commented.
“Our pre-eminent product portfolio positions us well to deliver a strong fiscal second half of 2024.”
Micron guided for revenue to hit US$6.6 billion over the upcoming third quarter, again, above analysts’ expectations of US$6.02 billion.
Micron provides the likes of memory and flash storage for computers, phones and data centres, with the rapid adoption of AI over the past year fuelling demand for the likes of its products which support such systems.
Shares in the company climbed 16.6% to US$112.20 in pre-market trading.