NEW YORK, Jan 3, 2026, 18:49 ET — Market closed
- Sandisk shares last closed up 15.95% at $275.24 on Friday, their biggest one-day rise this year
- The flash-storage maker named First Solar CFO Alexander R. Bradley to its board and audit committee
- Investors are looking to Jan. 29 earnings and next week’s U.S. jobs data for the next catalyst
Sandisk Corp shares jumped 15.95% on Friday to close at $275.24, their best day so far this year, as the Nasdaq-listed flash-storage maker rode a rebound in chip-linked stocks. The stock traded between $242.00 and $278.78 and changed hands at roughly 11.1 million shares.
The move matters because Sandisk has become a high-beta proxy for artificial-intelligence infrastructure spending, as data centers lean on flash-based solid-state drives for faster storage. The company was spun off from Western Digital in February and finished 2025 up about 559% from its $36 debut price, based on Friday’s session.
Sandisk said it appointed Alexander R. Bradley, chief financial officer of First Solar, to its board of directors and audit committee, effective Dec. 30. Chief executive David Goeckeler said Bradley’s “operational finance expertise” would help the company “deliver sustainable, long-term returns.” Business Wire
Bradley’s appointment adds another executive with experience in a capital-intensive manufacturing business, a theme that resonates with memory makers that must time spending carefully as prices for chips rise and fall.
Traders also had a friendlier tape. U.S. stocks ended higher on the first trading day of 2026, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index — a gauge of chipmakers — up about 4% as Nvidia and Intel led gains, helping lift sentiment across the sector.
Sandisk sells NAND flash, a type of memory chip that stores data even when the power is off, and solid-state drives, or SSDs, which store data on chips rather than spinning disks. That speed and power efficiency is a selling point in data centers trying to squeeze more performance out of AI workloads.
The company’s sharp swings have put it on watchlists for both momentum traders and longer-term investors who see memory pricing and data-center demand as the key swing factors for earnings.
With the market closed for the weekend, the next company-specific checkpoint is late January. Sandisk is scheduled to release fiscal second-quarter results on Jan. 29 and host an earnings call at 4:30 p.m. ET.
Before then, macro data could set the tone for rate-sensitive tech. The U.S. employment report for December is due on Jan. 9, and the Consumer Price Index for December is scheduled for Jan. 13.
Fed messaging remains in focus after Philadelphia Fed President Anna Paulson said on Saturday that additional rate cuts may take a while as policymakers assess inflation and labor-market trends.
On the chart, Sandisk ended Friday just below its intraday high of $275.80; traders will watch whether shares can clear that level in the next session. A drop back toward Friday’s $244.00 low would mark the first near-term support test after the surge.
