shares of micron technology inc mu shot up 56 in premarket trading monday as production cuts announced by rival samsung electronics co ltd 005930 provided a boost the south koreabased computer memory chip maker said friday that it would cut production by meaningful levels to optimize its manufacturing operations as the associated press reported stifel nicolaus analyst brian chin believes meaningful cuts could represent a cut of 10 or more in utilization with his checks with suppliers corroborating that the cuts began late in the first quarter samsungs announcement comes after micron had announced cuts as it reported a large fiscal secondquarter loss in latemarch we view these actions as incrementally positive for memory market sentiment near term and see microns shares reacting well with rally potential of 10 to 20 through the firstquarter earnings season chin wrote in a note to clients microns stock has rallied 172 year to date through thursday while the phlx semiconductor index sox has climbed 213 and the sp 500 spx has advanced 69