Samsung tries to calm fears of memory price wars

• Samsung Electronics (OTC:SSNLF) CEO Kwon Oh-hyun: "We'll have to wait and see how things will go next year, but there definitely will not be any game of chicken."
• Micron (MU +2.6%), SanDisk (SNDK +2.3%), and SK Hynix (OTC:HXSCL) must be happy to hear that. Micron and Hynix sold off in late July after Samsung hiked its 2014 DRAM production forecast, and all 3 names sold off last week after Samsung announced plans to spend $14.7B on a new chip fab.
• Cowen's Tim Arcuri recently downplayed concerns about the fab's impact on Micron. "We don’t put a ton of stock in this announcement as we question when – or even whether – this fab will ultimately be built, and we also question the market’s assumption that this would be DRAM."
• Bernstein pounded the table yesterday for Micron, highlighting a valuation of ~6x 2015E EPS and arguing fears about its exposure to a chip inventory correction (following Microchip's warning) are overblown. "The memory cycle has been more supply driven rather than demand driven ... if there is any short-term demand weakness memory makers can just decide to hold on to inventory as opposed to selling at a suboptimal price."
• Micron and SanDisk are both faring well on a strong day for tech.