AI has taken the world by storm, so surely Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) should be booming, right? Not exactly. One of the leaders in memory chips reported another (expected) ugly earnings report, showing $3.8 billion in sales (down 57% from a year ago) during the third quarter of Micron's 2023 fiscal year (the three months ended on June 1, 2023). Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) were negative $1.43 as the company continues to struggle with an oversupply of memory chips and weak pricing on products, though it was a big improvement from the negative $1.91 EPS reported in the prior quarter.

This has been the worst slump for the memory chip market in decades, and there's a long road ahead toward recovery that's being complicated by geopolitical issues with China. Nevertheless, Micron has indicated the next bull market could already be well on its way. 

It's often said that "chips are the new oil." It's an oversimplified comparison between a highly engineered device (a semiconductor, including memory chips) and a basic commodity used to generate energy (fossil fuels). But the basic meaning implies that the world -- increasingly becoming digital -- relies heavily on the semiconductor industry these days. 

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Source Fool.com