Western Digital stock jumps nearly 9% as AI storage trade kicks off 2026
NEW YORK, Jan 2, 2026, 19:41 ET — After-hours Western Digital Corp shares surged on Friday and were still higher in after-hours trading, extending a sharp rally in data-storage stocks to start 2026. StockAnalysis The move matters because investors are rotating back into the “AI infrastructure” trade — the suppliers of hardware used to build and run data centers — after year-end volatility and a brief pullback in some high-flying names. Reuters It also comes as the broader U.S. market stabilized on the first session of the year, with chip stocks leading gains and a key semiconductor index rising 4%,