AI Chipmaker Surpasses the Value of All Bitcoin

Bitcoin briefly rebounded above $61,500 on Thursday morning after falling the day before to about $59,000, its lowest level since late 2024. Even with the bounce, it remains far below its October peak, and sentiment in the crypto market is still weak because of ETF outflows, hundreds of millions of dollars in forced liquidations from leveraged positions, and worries that U.S. rates will stay high for longer.

Against that backdrop, the bigger market story came from artificial intelligence. Micron reported quarterly results after the market close that beat analysts’ expectations on nearly every measure, with stronger-than-expected revenue and profit, an upbeat forecast for the next quarter, and a quarterly dividend of 15 cents per share.

Investors responded sharply. In premarket trading, Micron jumped more than 16%, lifting its market value to about $1.375 trillion. That put the chipmaker, at least at the time of publication, ahead of the combined market value of all bitcoin in circulation, estimated at around $1.23 trillion after recent declines.

The move reflects a broader rotation of money out of crypto and into technology shares, especially companies benefiting from the AI boom. Micron, which makes advanced memory chips used in AI model training and data centers, is seeing unprecedented demand. The company’s outlook reinforced the view that investment in the sector is still far from over, even as stocks such as Nvidia and Qualcomm were somewhat weaker during the session. Bitcoin is also facing pressure from continued ETF redemptions, leveraged liquidations, a stronger dollar, and anticipation of upcoming U.S. inflation data that could influence Federal Reserve policy.