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Sandisk Soars: AI Boom Fuels Storage Stock Surge
23 Jan
Summary
- Sandisk shares have surged 112% this year, outperforming the S&P 500.
- Global flash memory shortages are enabling price increases.
- Short interest has climbed to 7.5%, creating extreme short squeeze risk.
Sandisk's stock has experienced a remarkable surge of 112% year-to-date as of January 23, 2026, far exceeding the S&P 500's performance. This significant rally is attributed to a rotation in the artificial intelligence trade towards storage companies, coupled with global flash memory shortages that enable Sandisk to implement price hikes.
The surge has also attracted significant short interest, which has climbed from approximately 4% to 7.5% of the float since early November. This has led S3 Partners LLC to label the short squeeze risk as "extreme," with mark-to-market losses on short positions reaching an estimated $3 billion.
Western Digital Corp. spun off its flash-memory business in February 2025, leading to the re-listing of Sandisk. Since then, its shares have seen an approximate 1,300% increase. The growing need for memory, highlighted by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at CES, further bolsters the outlook for storage solutions.
