Micron Technology (MU) has been one of the market's biggest success stories over the past year. The memory chip maker just hit a new all-time high of $1,255 on Thursday, a day after reporting quarterly earnings that blew past analyst estimates. The company crossed the $1 trillion market cap milestone in May 2026 and now ranks among the 15 most valuable public companies globally.

Driving the rally? Surging demand for memory chips and supply constraints have made Micron the king of its sector. And analysts aren't done yet — price targets of $1,500 to $2,000 are common after the latest report.

But the real jaw-dropper is what happened to early investors. Let's rewind to the beginning.

The IPO: A $13 Bet

Micron was founded in 1978 and went public on June 1, 1984, with shares priced at $13. If you had put $1,000 into the IPO, you'd have bought about 76.92 shares. Since then, the stock has split three times: a 5-for-2 split in April 1994, a 2-for-1 split in May 1995, and another 2-for-1 split in May 2000. Those splits would have turned your 76.92 shares into 769.2 shares.

With Micron trading at $1,157.90 at the time of writing, that stake would be worth $890,656.68. That's a gain of 88,965.7% — turning a $1,000 bet into nearly a million dollars.

Not bad for a company that started out making memory chips in Boise, Idaho.