Memory Chipmaker Reports 346% Revenue Increase

A U.S.-based memory chipmaker reported a 346% increase in quarterly revenue on Thursday, along with a profit of $28.2 billion that was nearly 15 times higher than the same quarter last year. The results exceeded analyst expectations and sent the company's shares up 15% to $1,213 by the close of after-hours trading.

The gains helped lift futures for both the tech-heavy NASDAQ and the broader S&P 500 indexes.

The company was founded in 1978 in the basement of a Boise, Idaho dental office by four individuals, including twin brothers who had previously worked at a Dallas-based memory chip firm. Early funding came from local investors and an Idaho potato producer.

Its first contract involved designing a 64K memory chip for the same company three of the founders had left. The firm later improved the design, began mass production in 1981, and expanded to facilities in five countries.

The company now ranks among the three largest memory chip producers worldwide, alongside Samsung and SK Hynix, and controls a significant share of global DRAM output. Its high-bandwidth memory chips stack layers to move data at high speeds required by AI processors.

The firm went public on the NASDAQ in 1984 and survived intense competition from Japanese manufacturers in the 1980s and 1990s through cost reductions and trade actions that contributed to a 1986 U.S.-Japan semiconductor agreement. A technology research note stated the company remains positioned to benefit from demand tied to AI systems, citing its role in supplying specialized memory products.