Why SanDisk Just Had One of the Biggest Days in Its History

After a fantastic 2025, shares of memory chip stock SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) just had one of their best days ever. In 2025, SanDisk shares gained over 550%.

Then, on Jan. 6, 2026, the stock closed up more than 27%—its second-largest single-day gain since it began trading in February of last year.

The surge was driven by a mix of strong demand signals, favorable pricing trends, and renewed investor confidence in the memory chip market.

Several tailwinds continue to support SanDisk’s momentum heading into 2026.

NVIDIA’s CEO Comments Send SNDK Soaring

The reasoning behind SanDisk’s Jan. 6 rise is a bit difficult to pin down. The solid-state drive (SSD) maker did not release any major news that day.

However, comments made by NVIDIA’s (NASDAQ: NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang appear to have done the trick. On Jan. 5, Huang and NVIDIA’s Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress held a Q&A session at the Consumer Electronics Show 2026. During this meeting, Huang made several interesting comments about the data storage market, in which SanDisk is a large player.

In reference to artificial intelligence (AI) data storage, Hang called it “a completely unserved market today." He went on to say, “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.”

In essence, Huang believes that AI data storage supply today isn’t coming anywhere close to meeting demand. This reaffirms the main driver of SanDisk’s appreciation: being a supplier in a market with insatiable demand. It adds more weight to the idea that data storage makers can continue raising prices, generating higher revenue and margins.

Furthermore, Huang believes that AI data storage could realistically become the largest data storage market in the world. As AI systems learn more, they will need to grow the “working memory” from which they draw to provide timely answers. Through this, SanDisk can benefit, as its SSDs help scale working memory in an economical way.

Researchers See SSD Prices Moving Up Massively in Q1 2026

Speaking of price increases, a Jan. 5 report from TrendForce helps support the investor enthusiasm around SanDisk shares. In Q1 2026, TrendForce expects NAND flash contract prices to rise between 33% and 38% quarter-over-quarter. NAND flash is a broad category of memory chips used in data storage that includes SanDisk's SSDs. Overall, such a large increase in prices in just one quarter would directly benefit SanDisk. TrendForce sees enterprise SSDs, or those used in data centers and in edge applications, becoming the largest market for SSDs in 2026.

Additionally, as suppliers like SanDisk shift their production to support enterprises, client SSD prices could rise even faster. These are sales typically made to companies that make personal computers and other devices.

In this part of the market, TrendForce sees prices rising at least 40% in one quarter. These price increases would come even though the research firm believes that client SSD demand will fall. Thus, it is possible that even with lower demand, SanDisk could generate stable client sales, or even see revenue rise. Note that after November 2025, SanDisk stopped individually reporting client sales.

After SNDK’s 27% Surge, How Will Wall Street Price Targets React?

After rising 27% on Jan. 6, SanDisk trades far above the MarketBeat consensus price target of nearly $213. This figure implies approximately 39% downside in shares.

The highest MarketBeat-tracked price target on SanDisk comes from China Renaissance at $322. This figure still suggests that shares could fall 8%.

It will be interesting to see if analysts raise their SanDisk price targets after Jensen Huang's statements. Despite Huang being one of the world's most important voices in tech, a 27% rise for a stock that has already gained so much is striking.

Large boosts would provide evidence that the comments substantially changed how analysts view the storage market. If analysts don’t alter their targets, it could indicate that hype drove SanDisk’s gain more than substance.  

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The article "Why SanDisk Just Had One of the Biggest Days in Its History" first appeared on MarketBeat.