Same Cycle, Different Tickers: Cramer’s Micron-SK Hynix Correlation Headache

CNBC host Jim Cramer said Micron Technology (MU) moves with SK Hynix’s trading in Korea and that he dislikes the arrangement, shortly before the South Korean chipmaker posted record quarterly earnings. The setup leaves Micron shareholders exposed to Seoul trading even though the company is based in the US.

A viewer asked Cramer on Mad Money whether volatile Micron suited a long-term hold or options straddles. “I’m hoping the linkage ends one day, but it hasn’t yet,” Cramer said in the MadMoney segment. The pattern held on Oct. 13: SK Hynix closed 10.09% lower in Seoul, SBS reported, and Micron’s US shares then sank about 5%. CNBC also reported Wall Street had already declined Monday, providing broader-market context for Micron’s drop.

China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), a DRAM maker, announced a denser memory-cell design, and the advance weighed on both stocks. Both companies also sell high-bandwidth memory (HBM), the chips stacked beside AI processors, into the same demand cycle. Together, SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics account for more than half of South Korea’s stock market capitalization, Yahoo Finance noted.

On Oct. 28, SK Hynix extended Korea’s memory-chip boom with record quarterly results. Third-quarter operating profit hit 83.33 trillion won ($62.8 billion), up 632% year on year, JoongAng noted, exceeding the 76.96 trillion won consensus. Its Seoul shares had closed nearly 8% lower the day before.

F&C Equities favored Micron in July because of Korean market uncertainty and tariff risks. SK Hynix’s American depositary receipts (ADRs) debuted on Nasdaq in July, giving US investors a direct way to trade the chipmaker alongside Micron.