Micron hits $1 trillion value in AI boom as Walmart exits club

In a stark illustration of how artificial intelligence continues to reshape corporate valuations on Wall Street, memory chipmaker Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) has entered the exclusive tier of companies valued at over $1 trillion, while retail giant Walmart (NASDAQ:WMT) has dropped out.

Micron crossed the historic $1 trillion market capitalization milestone for the first time on May 26.

The upward surge comes as semiconductor manufacturers experience a massive wave of investor enthusiasm driven by the exponential growth in demand for specialized AI hardware infrastructure and memory architecture.

Conversely, the market momentum surrounding Walmart has cooled over the past week.

The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retail titan currently holds a market capitalization of $945 billion.

While Walmart's stock has managed a 5% gain since the start of the year, its performance has underperformed the broader market, lagging behind the S&P 500 Index's 10% advance over the same period.

Walmart originally achieved its historic trillion-dollar valuation on Feb. 3, marking the first time a traditional bricks-and-mortar retailer cracked the 13-figure threshold in equity market history.

However, the company's tenure in the elite tier was cut short on May 21, when shares retreated below the closely watched line in immediate response to its quarterly financial results and forward-looking guidance.

The stock has remained below that benchmark level since the report.