NEW YORK, March 16, 2026, 10:29 EDT
Sandisk popped roughly 7% early Monday, stretching the rally in AI-related memory stocks after Micron announced plans for a second plant at its new site in Taiwan. Micron itself was up around 5%, with Western Digital not far behind, up close to 4%. Traders rotated into memory and storage plays instead of focusing solely on the headline AI chipmakers.
This shift is rippling across more of the hardware stack. Demand for DRAM—speedy memory that sits near the processor—and NAND flash, the storage tech found in SSDs, keeps tightening as cloud giants scale up data centers. HPE CEO Antonio Neri last week put it bluntly: “elevated prices to persist well into 2027.” MarketWatch
Sandisk stands out among gainers here. According to a filing, fiscal second-quarter revenue surged 61% year over year to $3.03 billion. Datacenter revenue jumped 64% sequentially. Looking ahead, the company projected current-quarter revenue in the range of $4.4 billion to $4.8 billion, and sees adjusted earnings landing between $12 and $14 per share.
Back in January, Chief Executive David Goeckeler pointed to accelerated enterprise SSD rollouts and a surge in acknowledgment that Sandisk’s tech is “powering AI.” On the recent earnings call, Goeckeler told analysts the company now expects data-center storage needs—counted in exabytes—to climb at a high-60% pace in 2026. That’s a sharp jump from the mid-40s growth rate forecast just a quarter ago. He attributed most of the upward revision to AI demand. SEC
Micron kicked off Sunday with news that put the spotlight back on the sector. The company detailed that its Tongluo site houses about 300,000 square feet of cleanroom space. Another facility, almost as large—planned at around 270,000 square feet—is set to break ground before the close of fiscal 2026. “Memory is a strategic asset that dictates AI product performance,” said operations chief Manish Bhatia. Micron Technology
Wall Street analysts are rushing to update their calls. On March 14, MarketWatch pointed out that DRAM contract prices have soared 92% since December, with NAND prices jumping 109%. Wedbush’s Matt Bryson highlighted that it’s not just AI model training but also the memory needed for running them that’s fueling the current crunch—he bumped his Micron target to $500 from $320. Barron’s noted Susquehanna is still holding its $1,000 price target on Sandisk.
Still, the memory rally brings back an old risk: wild swings between scarcity and oversupply. Micron has flagged that substantial shipments from Tongluo won’t start rolling out until fiscal 2028. So the current crunch could stick around—though that same timeline hints at new capacity coming online to take some heat out of prices down the line.
Sandisk last traded at $710.45, Micron was at $448.25, and Western Digital settled at $282.97, with the storage sector still one of tech’s stronger performers in the rebound. Nvidia kicked off its GTC conference in San Jose on Monday. Next up: Micron’s fiscal Q2 report lands March 18, another quick pulse-check on whether AI demand continues to drive orders for memory and storage makers.
