Micron Technology NASDAQ:MU helped power a 32% first-half surge for David Tepper's Appaloosa Management as hedge fund gains clustered around AI memory stocks.
Bloomberg reported that Appaloosa, which manages about $23 billion, generated all of its gains in Q2, driven by bets on Micron, Samsung Electronics (SSNLF), SK Hynix (SKHY), Kioxia and SanDisk NASDAQ:SNDK. The fund still kept a defensive posture, with an average cash position of about 40%.
The common thread is AI infrastructure. Demand for high-bandwidth memory and NAND flash has surged as data centers expand, with SK Hynix supplying HBM chips to Nvidia NASDAQ:NVDA and Micron ramping its own HBM capacity. That has made memory one of the hottest corners of the semiconductor trade.