Memory chips have quietly become one of the market’s hottest AI trades.
Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) is now worth about $738 billion, while SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK), which completed its separation from Western Digital in February, has a market value of roughly $210 billion.
Both stocks have ripped higher because AI data centers need more than GPUs: they also need fast working memory and storage.
Micron’s latest quarter brought $23.9 billion in revenue, nearly triple the $8.1 billion it posted a year earlier, while SanDisk just reported $6 billion, up 251% from the same quarter last year.
What’s behind the memory boom?
The AI boom has created a simple but powerful bottleneck as DRAM is the fast “working memory” servers use to process data, while NAND is the flash storage that sits inside SSDs and keeps data moving.
Micron says AI server demand remains strong but is constrained by a lack of adequate DRAM and NAND supply, and the shortage is being driven by surging demand for AI infrastructure.
Gartner says combined DRAM and SSD prices could rise 130% by the end of 2026, a move it says would lift PC prices by 17%.
The shortage is described as “unprecedented” and says memory markets could stay tight past 2026.
The case for Micron stock
Micron’s bull case is scale, earnings leverage and a business that is already firing on all cylinders.
In fiscal Q2 2026, the company reported revenue of $23.9 billion versus $8.1 billion a year earlier, while non-GAAP EPS jumped to $12.20 from $1.56.
Micron also guided fiscal Q3 revenue to $33.5 billion, underscoring how tight the market remains.
On Wall Street, Melius initiated coverage with a Buy and a $700 target, saying that implied 41% upside at the time.
DA Davidson went more aggressive with a $1,000 target, and Mizuho recently lifted its target to $740. At the current share price, Micron trades around 30.5x trailing earnings.
The case for SanDisk stock
SanDisk’s story is even more dramatic as its fiscal Q3 revenue surged 251% year on year to $6 billion, datacenter revenue jumped 645% from a year earlier, and non-GAAP EPS flipped from a $0.30 loss to $23.41 in profit.
The company also said it ended the quarter with three new business model agreements signed and added two more in the following quarter.
Cantor Fitzgerald raised its target to $1,800, while Melius began coverage at $1,350.
Cantor said the new customer structure includes about $42 billion in NAND bit obligations and gives SanDisk more revenue visibility than a typical memory cycle.
SanDisk currently trades at about 46.6x trailing earnings.
Which one should you buy?
Wall Street’s clearest bull case currently belongs to SanDisk.
Cantor Fitzgerald analyst C.J. Muse recently said SanDisk is “the better buy at current prices,” pointing to its larger implied upside, faster earnings growth and stronger leverage to the AI-driven SSD boom.
Micron is still the better choice for investors who want the larger, more diversified name with exposure across cloud memory, core data center, mobile/client and automotive.
But memory remains a cyclical business, and the industry can still swing sharply when supply eventually catches demand.
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