Micron Technology reported blockbuster quarterly earnings Wednesday, significantly outperforming analyst expectations and sparking a late-day rally in technology shares. The memory chip manufacturer’s results and outlook highlighted strong global demand for memory products amid the ongoing artificial intelligence (AI) boom, even as the broader tech sector had experienced a recent selloff.

For the fiscal third quarter, Micron posted a profit of $28.24 billion, or $24.67 per share, compared to $1.89 billion, or $1.68 per share, during the same period a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, adjusted earnings reached $25.11 per share, well above the $20.86 per share forecast from analysts surveyed by FactSet. Revenue surged to $41.46 billion, more than quadrupling from $9.3 billion a year earlier and exceeding expectations of $35.91 billion.

Following the earnings release, Micron’s shares jumped roughly 15% in after-hours trading, driving gains in Nasdaq futures and reversing some of the losses that had affected the tech sector over the past several days. Earlier in the week, shares of key semiconductor companies including South Korean chipmakers SK Hynix and Samsung fell sharply, alongside declines in American tech firms such as Nvidia and Oracle. Micron’s own shares had slipped 7.5% prior to Wednesday’s report.

Analysts noted that the intense volatility reflects market sensitivity to narratives centered on AI’s growth prospects. Ron Albahary, chief investment officer at LNW, described the large swings as characteristic of a market “highly dependent on a particular narrative.” The memory chip market is currently benefiting from substantial capital expenditures by hyperscale cloud providers and AI developers expanding data centers, driving global demand for memory components.

Micron indicated it has secured multiple long-term agreements with major customers to lock in current pricing amid expectations of a supply shortage extending beyond 2027. This strategy aims to mitigate investor concerns about the sustainability of the AI-driven spending spree, which has pushed memory and storage company stocks to multiyear highs but left some market participants skeptical.

Despite the strong quarterly results, broader indicators signal elevated risk. The index of U.S. semiconductor stocks recently traded more than 60% above its 200-day moving average—the highest level since 2000—raising comparisons to the dot-com bubble period. The rise in levered exchange-traded funds targeting semiconductor stocks has also amplified market swings.

Meanwhile, fluctuations in oil prices and Treasury yields added to market uncertainty. An oil selloff to levels not seen since before the Iran War contributed to a rally in Treasury bonds, which in turn lowered borrowing costs and could provide further support to growth-oriented technology stocks.

As the tech sector navigates heightened volatility, Micron’s results underscore the ongoing demand fundamentals underpinning the AI and semiconductor boom, even as investors weigh the risks of whether that momentum can be sustained over the long term.