Former President Donald Trump publicly endorsed Micron Technology at a large campaign rally in Suffern, New York, on May 22. He stated, "Big company Micron, boy, Micron is great..." Earlier that afternoon, the options market saw a significant influx of large, deep out-of-the-money call options on Micron, with strike prices ranging from $750 to $1,400 and individual premiums starting at over one million dollars. Micron's stock is currently trading around $751, having surged approximately 680% over the past year.
This move follows a familiar pattern for Trump. A recently disclosed financial filing revealed that in March, he purchased shares of Micron and then promoted the company on Fox News the following day, saying, "I just met with the head of Micron, it's one of the hottest companies." The strategy of building a position before publicly endorsing a stock is not new for him.
Prior to the rally, significant options activity was detected. According to market flow trackers, several traders concentrated on buying deep OTM Micron call options on the afternoon of May 22. Strike prices spanned from $750 to $1,400, with expiration dates focused on January 15, 2027, and July 17, 2026. At least nine large call option buy orders were placed between noon and afternoon, with seven clustered between 1:19 PM and 1:53 PM. The most aggressive was a $1.4 million premium bet on $1,400 strike calls expiring in January 2027, requiring Micron's stock to nearly double from around $745 in under eight months to be profitable. All transactions were buy-side, executed at or above the ask price, indicating clear intent to accumulate.
This sequence of events—large options bets followed by a public endorsement—raises questions about potential advance knowledge. Reviewing Trump's trading history shows Micron is not an isolated case. A disclosure from the Office of Government Ethics showed Trump executed 3,711 securities transactions in Q1 2024, valued between $220 million and $750 million. The timeline for Micron is notable: between March 2 and 25, he purchased between $217,000 and $530,000 worth of Micron stock, with four transactions marked as "unsolicited." The day after a purchase on March 25, he called into Fox News, making his now-famous comment about Micron.
Similar scripts have played out with other companies. Dell is a prime example. Trump bought $1-5 million of Dell stock on February 10 and, nine days later, publicly told an audience to "go buy a Dell computer," praising its CEO. He made multiple subsequent endorsements, with a Mother's Day event at the White House helping push Dell's stock to a record high. The story with Thermo Fisher is also intriguing. On March 11, after touring an Ohio facility and praising the company, he purchased $15,000 to $50,000 of its stock, also marked "unsolicited." That same afternoon, he praised Apple CEO Tim Cook and bought $250,000 to $500,000 of Apple stock, with total March purchases reaching $2-7.2 million.
In response to scrutiny, the Trump Organization maintains that his investments are managed independently by a third-party financial institution using an automated, model-driven portfolio, with no personal involvement in decisions. However, Trump's assets are held in a trust managed by his son, Donald Trump Jr., which is not a legally blind trust, meaning there is no formal barrier preventing his involvement. The "unsolicited" designation on several trades further complicates the narrative of independent management.
This has prompted bipartisan legislative efforts. Lawmakers are proposing bills to ban stock trading by members of Congress, with some seeking to extend the prohibition to the President and Vice President. One senator called such trading "a profound betrayal of the citizens they serve."
A social media detail notes that Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra attended a private social event with Trump, suggesting a close relationship. Trump's endorsements of Micron also occur within a specific policy context. U.S. officials have indicated they are considering tariffs on imported semiconductors to boost domestic manufacturing, though not immediately. Micron holds a key strategic position as the only U.S.-based manufacturer mass-producing advanced DRAM memory chips. It has committed to $200 billion in U.S. manufacturing and R&D investments and has received over $6 billion in direct CHIPS Act subsidies. CEO Mehrotra has stated that AI-driven demand is causing a memory chip shortage expected to last beyond 2026, with the company securing long-term supply agreements.
Micron's stock has risen over 163% year-to-date. When this influential figure publicly discusses a company, it often appears to intertwine personal holdings, policy interests, and personal connections. In the case of Micron, all three elements seem to be present.