The AI memory supercycle has emerged as one of 2026’s most defining stories, and also one of its most contested.
Hyperscaler capital expenditure is expected to reach $750 billion this year, with Goldman Sachs forecasting $7.6 trillion in total AI infrastructure spending through 2031, resulting in a supply shortage of NAND and DRAM memory as data center demand for high-performance storage clashes against the chipmakers’ capacity limitations
That scarcity has been aggravated by reports that TSMC may boost contract chip manufacturing prices by up to 10% in 2027, with some products facing increases of up to 20%, owing to increased materials, equipment, and overseas facility development expenses. Explosive Financial Scaling Sandisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) is one of the names that have benefited the most from the supercycle. Since its February 2025 spinoff from Western Digital at $35.06 per share, Sandisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) has become the single best-performing stock in the S&P 500, climbing up to 858% at its late-June peak on the back of explosive fundamentals: fiscal Q3 2026 revenue reached $5.95 billion, up 97% sequentially and 251% year-over-year, with datacenter revenue specifically up 645% year-over-year.
Management anticipates continued sequential acceleration in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, with total revenue expected to range between $7.75 billion and $8.25 billion and non-GAAP earnings per share between $30 and $33, as gross margins increase to near 80%. More crucially, Sandisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) reported that its remaining performance obligations and contracted backlog came in between $41.6 billion and $42 billion. Sandisk’s entire 2026 enterprise AI storage capacity is sold out under long-term agreements, thus locking in multibillion-dollar cash flows for the rest of the calendar year.