Memory chip stocks shed $100bn as AI-driven shortage trade unwinds

A single Google Research paper on model compression wiped $100 billion from memory chip stocks in five days. Micron dropped 15%; SanDisk, the best S&P 500 performer in 2025, shed $15 billion in market cap. Morgan Stanley's defense was textbook Jevons: efficiency expands demand. But the market just revealed a new risk class: AI efficiency research as a first-order investment catalyst. The next compression paper is already being written; the question is whether you see it before or after the sell-off.