Wall Street Hot Bet: SanDisk Shares Lead 2026 Tech Wave With 48% Surge — What's Behind The Rally?

SanDisk's stock has logged a notable 48% growth so far in 2026, coming out on top as one the major performers on the S&P 500 Index.

The solid-state drive storage company's market cap has climbed to about $40 billion after it was obtained by Western Digital for $16 billion in 2016, and was launched as a separate company in February 2025.

The firm had a value of $5.6 billion when it debuted on the exchanges, which was at a discount of 65% of the original acquisition price.

SanDisk is among the memory storage companies that are benefiting from the extensive usage of AI inferencing and edge AI. This adoption is in turn fueling a demand for storage from firms who use and make AI as they need to store larger datasets to train their models and use for analytics and regulatory compliance.

Memory prices have also been on the rise with Korea Economic Daily reporting that companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are planning to increase server Dynamic random-access memory prices by 60% to 70% in the first quarter in comparison to previous quarter.

SanDisk retains an edge in comparison to its competitors due to its optimisation of DRAM scaling via its High Bandwidth Flash technology, which is powered by its BiCS8 3D NAND technology. Its tech adopts a "memory centric" approach and consumes less power providing more memory at a lower cost.

This feature may be aiding the firm's growth as the digital storage industry is facing a global supply crunch across markets, spurred by AI's widespread proliferation and adoption. Industry research firms such as IDC have coined the term "memory shortage crisis" to address this phenomenon.

NAND wafer prices shot up 60% in November alone, while contract prices have doubled since July. Suppliers have reported selling out through 2026 and are already in talks to secure allocations for 2027.

TrendForce predicts that demand for memory will increase 20–22% in 2026, overtaking supply growth of 15–17%.

SanDisk stock also benefitted from comments made by Nvidia's chief executive officer Jensen Huang.

“For storage, that is a completely unserved market today This is a market that never existed, and this market will likely be the largest storage market in the world, basically holding the working memory of the world’s AIs," Huang said at the CES Conference 2026.

Shares of the stock soared 28% on Jan. 6 after his comments, recording the largest single day gain since February. The scrip is currently trading at $349 apiece, marking an 870% jump as compared to its initial trading price of about $36 last year.