Seagate leads memory sell-off as CEO says it would 'take too long' to build new factories
CEO just admitted what everyone feared: Memory chip makers can't scale fast enough for AI. Stock plunge proves the market is panicking.
Why it matters
As AI workloads demand unprecedented memory capacity, legacy chip manufacturers are signaling they lack the capital velocity and manufacturing flexibility to compete. This creates a competitive opening for new entrants and raises questions about whether current fab capacity will become a hard ceiling on AI deployment.
The key facts
4 to knowSeagate CEO Dave Mosley publicly stated building new memory factories would 'take too long'
Statement triggered sell-off across memory chip sector: Seagate, Micron, SanDisk, Western Digital all declined
Signals capacity constraints in memory manufacturing at critical moment for AI infrastructure scaling
Published May 18 2026 — recent market-moving commentary from CEO
Go to the source
CNBC Technologycnbc.com
Publisher excerpt: Seagate CEO Dave Mosley's comment sent shares sinking, along with those of Micron, SanDisk and Western Digital.