Benefiting from the global frenzy of demand for AI (artificial intelligence) infrastructure, the memory and storage industry is entering an unprecedented super-cycle. The world’s four major memory and storage giants—SK hynix (000660.KS), Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), Micron Technology (MU), and SanDisk (SNDK)—have all set historical records of share-price surges during this wave. Among them, SanDisk, thanks to its positioning focused purely on storage equipment, has officially surpassed the $200 billion market-cap mark, becoming a high-focus target for Wall Street and global investors.
SanDisk’s share price rockets 4,155% in a year! Market cap breaks $200 billion
Based on the latest market quotes, SanDisk’s stock price soared over the past year from a low of $33.13 to a high of $1,439.70. Its current closing price is around $1,409, with a gain of an astonishing 4,155% from the low point.
With the stock price lifting, SanDisk’s market cap has reached $208.8 billion. According to Dow Jones market data, among companies in the same market-cap range as SanDisk are McDonald’s (about $203 billion), Verizon Communications (about $198 billion), and PepsiCo (about $212 billion), indicating that SanDisk has officially entered the ranks of major U.S. benchmark companies.
SanDisk’s financial results are outstanding: profit capability jumps 251%
According to the latest released FY2026 fiscal third-quarter financial report, SanDisk revenue reached $5.95 billion, up 251% year-over-year, far exceeding market expectations. Gross margin also surged to 78.4%. Looking ahead to FY2026 fourth quarter, the company’s guidance similarly surprised the market: expected revenue is between $7.75 billion and $8.25 billion, showing that order demand in its AI storage sector remains strong.
Four global memory giants are battling! Micron, Samsung, and SK hynix all surge in sync
The memory demand driven by AI has brought strong performances across the four major memory and storage giants. Not only SanDisk— the other three companies’ stock prices also posted huge gains over the past year:
Micron (Micron Technology): The stock rose strongly from a one-year low of $83.36 to $666.59 currently, for a rebound gain of about 699%, with market cap exceeding $750B.
SK hynix (SK Hynix): The stock also showed explosive momentum, jumping from a one-year low of 186,800 won to 1,645,000 won currently, up as much as 780%.
Samsung Electronics (Samsung Electronics): The stock climbed from a one-year low of 53,700 won to 270,000 won currently, with a gain of 402%.
The synchronized rallies among these four memory giants confirm the market expectation that memory and storage capacity is severely in short supply.
(What has NVIDIA’s Vera Rubin changed? Analyzing the memory warring-states era: SK hynix, Samsung, Micron, SanDisk)
Memory entering a super-cycle? Micron CEO points to hard demand for AI storage
With such dramatic gains, different voices have emerged in the market. In February 2026, the well-known short-seller Citron Research announced it had established a short position in SanDisk. Its rationale was that the NAND flash memory industry is a typical cyclical industry, and it may currently be approaching the peak of the cycle, increasing investment risk.
However, Micron’s CEO, in an interview this February, said that the company’s current capacity can only satisfy customers’ demand by about 50% to 65%. He emphasized that AI demand for memory is surpassing supply with an “unprecedented” gap. Because building new fabs takes several years, this shortage wave is expected to continue beyond 2026.
(The short-selling firm Citron opens a bearish view on SanDisk (SNDK); memory valuation is severely wrong)
Why can SanDisk stand out among many AI-themed stocks?
When global attention focuses on compute power chips, people often overlook that every AI model in operation requires massive storage capacity. Under the “full-stack constraint” effect, with makers such as Micron, Samsung, and SK hynix facing tight capacity across the board, not only is there a DRAM shortage—this spillover effect is also driving comprehensive demand for NAND flash memory, high-capacity hard drives, and even system-level storage platforms. SanDisk, focused on the storage space, naturally captures the upside from the expansion of AI infrastructure buildout.
From flash drives to cloud data centers: SanDisk’s transformation after spinning off as independent
In the early 2000s, SanDisk was mainly known for flash memory cards and USB flash drives. To focus more on the high-growth NAND area, in February 2025 SanDisk formally spun off from Western Digital (WD) and became separately listed. It returned to the Nasdaq under the SNDK ticker code, led by CEO David Goeckeler. Currently, SanDisk’s three main business pillars are:
Retail products: Including USB flash drives, microSD cards, and more, with high market share and brand influence.
End-user computing: OEMs such as laptops and desktops are the main customers. Products cover SATA and NVMe SSDs, with nearly a 25% market share.
Cloud data centers: SanDisk is actively moving into the storage needs of large-scale data centers, cloud service providers, and AI inference servers—its fastest-growing business model today.
This article—“SanDisk’s stock price rockets over 41 times in a year! Why can SanDisk stand out among many AI-themed stocks?”—first appeared on Lianxin News ABMedia.
