Billionaire fund supervisor David Tepper simply made an enormous $285 million guess on Micron (MU) inventory, doubling down on the AI reminiscence growth.
Tepper’s hedge fund Appaloosa simply disclosed a head-turning guess on Micron, turning the reminiscence big into one of many fund’s largest holdings. That place now accounts for practically 6% of reported property.
Micron has been one of many largest beneficiaries of the relentless AI infrastructure growth, changing into one of many market’s hottest shares consequently.
For perspective, Micron inventory has gained greater than 230% over the previous six months and 324% over the previous 9.
Excessive-bandwidth reminiscence (HBM) has turn out to be a essential chokepoint in AI information facilities, and provide stays tight as ever.
CEO Sanjay Mehrotra just lately acknowledged that reminiscence markets are anticipated to “remain tight past 2026.”
Furthermore, Micron inventory has appeared throughout different main 13F filings I’ve lined in latest weeks.
Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater constructed an enormous Micron place, with an almost $253 million stake, whereas Jim Simons’ Renaissance swung even tougher, including practically $520 million.
Bridgewater’s Micron was half of a bigger “AI plumbing” construct, with sizeable additions to Nvidia and Oracle. Renaissance, in the meantime, handled Micron as extra of a conviction play, bumping its stake by greater than 50% and scooping up 1.81 million shares.
David Tepper’s hedge fund Appaloosa disclosed a $285 million Micron stake in its newest 13F submitting.
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Appaloosa Administration’s newest 13F exercise
- Market worth: $6.93 billion (prior: $7.38 billion)
- Inflows (outflows) as % of complete MV: (3.9)%
- New purchases: 3 shares
- Added to: 12 shares
- Bought out of: 9 shares
- Diminished holdings in: 24 shares
- Prime 10 holdings focus: 59.01%
- Turnover: 25%
Supply: WhaleWisdom
Who’s billionaire David Tepper?
That quote sums up Tepper’s investing type in a nutshell.
The legendary fund supervisor has constructed a rock-solid status for performing shortly, betting massive, and sticking to his weapons, even when the market initially strikes the opposite manner.
Extra Fund Managers:
- Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater invests $253 million in main AI inventory
- JPMorgan builds $2.93 billion stake in well being care inventory
- Jim Simons’ Renaissance drops $520 million on surging tech inventory
His playbook revolves round going the place the market is below stress and scooping up property that nobody is keen to the touch when panic peaks.
After climbing the ranks at Goldman Sachs in high-yield and distressed debt, Tepper launched his widespread hedge fund Appaloosa Administration in 1993.
Maybe his most prescient name got here in 2009, when he loaded up in a giant manner on beaten-down financial institution shares and credit score throughout the monetary recession, pocketing billions when the sector returned to kind. On the time, Appaloosa’s reported revenue for the yr got here in at a whopping $7 billion, based on The Guardian, led by bets that massive banks would thrive.
Within the early 2000s, Tepper made an enormous guess on distressed utility debt, securing a 149% achieve when the sector rebounded the following yr.
It’s essential to notice, although, that Appaloosa operates extra like a household workplace, so Tepper is actually managing his private capital.
Tepper’s private internet value is at an eyebrow-raising $23.7 billion, Forbes reviews. Soccer followers know him because the proprietor of the Carolina Panthers, since he bought the staff in 2018 for an NFL-record $2.275 billion.
Prime 13F strikes at Appaloosa
Prime buys (largest worth)
- Micron Know-how: $285 million
- iShares MSCI South Korea ETF: $182 million
- Meta Platforms: $152 million
- Alphabet (Class): $125 million
- Owens Corning: $88.2 million
Supply: WhaleWisdom
Prime sells (largest worth)
- Alibaba Group: $192 million
- Superior Micro Units: $134 million
- Whirlpool: $115 million
- Fiserv: $112 million
- KraneShares CSI China Web ETF: $90.2 million
Supply: WhaleWisdom
13F holdings abstract (% of portfolio)
- Alibaba Group: 10.88%
- Alphabet (Class): 8.1%
- Amazon.com: 7.26%
- Micron Know-how: 6.18%
- Meta Platforms: 5.72%
Supply: WhaleWisdom
Leaning into the AI reminiscence bottleneck
Tepper’s Appaloosa poured into Micron, as produce other main hedge funds, per WhaleWisdom.
The hedge fund raised its stake within the enterprise from 500,000 shares to 1.5 million shares, valuing the enterprise at roughly $285 million (on the reported value $285.41).
Micron now represents over 6% of its portfolio, and for a concentrated hedge fund, that’s some critical sizing.
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From a monetary standpoint, Micron’s numbers are mighty spectacular and are screaming “AI cycle.”
In fiscal Q1 2026, the corporate posted $13.6 billion in gross sales, a 56% gross margin, and $5.24 billion in GAAP internet earnings.
Administration then guided to almost $18.7 billion in Q2 gross sales with margins approaching 67% to 68%. Furthermore, the tech big considerably bumped its fiscal 2026 capex to about $20 billion to develop its HBM capability.
HBM is clearly the place the cash is, and after exiting its direct-to-consumer reminiscence enterprise, Micron is now centered squarely on its massive AI prospects.
In reality, based on Emergent Thoughts, HBM instructions common promoting costs and margins which are remarkably increased than these of conventional commodity reminiscence.
Furthermore, TrendForce reported that HBM3E pricing was practically 4 to 5 instances that of standard server DDR5.
Consolidating round AI winners
Micron was Appaloosa’s headline guess, however the broader sample of leaning onerous into AI infrastructure and highly effective mega-cap platforms was on full show, together with trimming publicity to areas with macro noise.
In doing so, Appaloosa boosted its Meta Platforms stake by roughly $152 million, to 600,000 shares.
That guess strains up with Meta’s aggressive AI buildout, the place the tech big is projecting $115 billion to $135 billion in 2026 capex, based on Bloomberg. The tech punditry is betting that Meta has the stability sheet energy to proceed funding its AI endeavors and pushing forward within the arms race.
The identical logic applies to Google-parent Alphabet, the place Appaloosa added practically $125 million. Google has the money machines that may proceed absorbing the AI hits with out reversing course.
On prime of that, Tepper’s fund dropped an eyebrow-raising $182 million on the iShares MSCI South Korea ETF.
With wholesome publicity to Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, the ETF is an oblique guess on the unbelievable demand for reminiscence and semiconductors.
On the promote aspect, Tepper’s fund lower publicity to Alibaba and the China web ETF, curbing geopolitical threat. The fund additionally decreased its stake in chipmaker AMD, favoring reminiscence over compute on this cycle, whereas clearing out names resembling Whirlpool and Fiserv in funding higher-conviction areas.
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