SanDisk has officially cracked the $500 level, trading around $503–$509 and printing fresh all-time highs. This is not a random spike. It is the result of a structural squeeze where AI demand meets tight memory supply, and something has to give.
Since its 2025 spin-off from Western Digital, SanDisk is up over 1,000%, with 2026 YTD gains above 100%. Hyperscalers are racing to lock in NAND and high-performance storage capacity, while supply remains disciplined after years of under-investment. The result: pricing power has snapped back hard.
📈 The price action is being backed by data.
TrendForce now projects Q1 2026 DRAM contract prices to surge 55–60% QoQ, with server DRAM exceeding 60% as AI servers take priority. This already dwarfs prior cycle peaks, where quarterly increases typically capped around 35–58%.
Zooming out, the memory market is forecast to expand from $551.6B in 2026 to $842.7B in 2027, a +53% YoY explosion. AI inference, larger models, and relentless data growth are reshaping the memory cycle into something longer, steeper, and structurally different.
🧠 Wall Street is catching up.
Citi has lifted targets to $490, Bernstein to $580, and sentiment remains firmly bullish. Yes, volatility exists, pullbacks toward the $470–$480 zone remind us this is still a tradeable stock. But unless AI demand cools materially, storage looks increasingly like the bottleneck of the AI era.
🚀 Early or late?
The fundamentals suggest this move is still accelerating, not topping. In past cycles, prices peaked when supply caught up. This time, demand keeps moving the goalposts.
I'm not a financial advisor. Trade wisely, Comrades!
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