Micron vs. Sandisk: Which Is the Better AI Memory Stock to Own for the Next 3 Years

Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) and Sandisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) have delivered stellar returns so far this year, driven by the incredible demand for memory chips deployed in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers.

While Micron stock has jumped by more than 3x in 2026, clocking a 220% jump as of this writing, Sandisk's gains are even more impressive at 480%. Of course, both stocks have experienced volatility lately, but the strong fundamentals of the memory market suggest that they can step on the gas once again.

We will take a closer look at the prospects of Micron and Sandisk in this article to find out which memory stock could deliver bigger gains to investors over the next three years.

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Micron enjoys an edge over Sandisk

Though Sandisk stock has outperformed Micron this year, investors will do well to note that the latter is in a better position to capitalize on the memory boom. That's because Micron sells both dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and NAND flash storage products. Sandisk, meanwhile, is a pure-play NAND flash manufacturer.

Micron, therefore, is benefiting from the massive surge in demand for both DRAM and NAND flash. Specifically, the DRAM business produced 73% of Micron's top line in the previous quarter, reaching almost $40 billion in revenue. Micron's exposure to the DRAM business allows the company to capitalize on the fast-growing high-bandwidth memory (HBM) space, where both volumes and shipments are rising rapidly.

Micron management noted on the latest earnings call that HBM sales are growing faster than conventional DRAM sales. That isn't surprising, as HBM plays a central role in quickly transporting huge data sets in AI chip clusters, ensuring that accelerator chips don't sit idle waiting for data. Even better, strong HBM demand is fueling Micron's bottom-line growth. The company notes that it has raised HBM pricing "significantly" for 2027, suggesting that its strong earnings growth rate is sustainable.

Additionally, semiconductor equipment giant ASML recently noted that supply shortages in the memory industry are widening in both size and time horizon. Similarly, SK Hynix estimates that DRAM undersupply will widen in 2027, and new capacity will only come online in June 2029. As such, Micron's DRAM business is poised for healthy growth over the next three years.

On the other hand, the NAND flash market is also expected to remain undersupplied for the next three years. This is great news for both Micron and Sandisk. Chinese NAND flash company YMTC recently noted that the NAND flash shortage is likely to persist until the end of 2029.

It is easy to see why demand for NAND flash is poised to substantially exceed supply. AI data centers require a lot of storage to store enormous data sets needed to train AI models and continuously feed data for inference and agentic AI applications. Given that traditional hard-disk drives (HDDs) are reportedly in short supply until 2028, AI data centers are turning to enterprise solid-state drives (SSDs).

However, the phenomenal demand for enterprise SSDs has led to a massive price spike. Tom's Hardware reported in August that the price of a 30TB enterprise SSD has surged by 6.5x in just a year. The strong pricing environment is likely to continue for the next three years amid the ongoing supply shortage.

Also, smartphone and personal computer (PC) shipments are declining due to high memory costs. This will create strong pent-up demand in the coming years, indicating that the improvement in Sandisk and Micron's margins will continue. Micron, however, has an additional catalyst in the form of the DRAM market, which explains why it is anticipated to deliver stronger bottom-line growth than Sandisk.

The verdict

Though Sandisk is a pure-play NAND flash company, its market share of 11% is lower than Micron's 15%, according to Counterpoint Research. Additionally, Micron's share of the NAND flash market improved by two percentage points year over year in the second quarter of 2026, while Sandisk maintained its share.

Meanwhile, Micron has 24% DRAM market share, and its share increased by two percentage points year over year in Q2. All this explains why analysts are expecting Micron's earnings per share to grow at a faster pace in the long run compared to Sandisk.

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What's more, Micron is the cheaper semiconductor stock to buy right now.

Data by YCharts

So, Micron clearly seems like a much better growth stock to buy and hold over the next three years to benefit from the memory boom. It is more attractively valued, is present in both the DRAM and NAND flash markets, and is likely to grow at a significantly faster pace than Sandisk. These factors could help Micron outperform Sandisk over the next three years.

Harsh Chauhan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends ASML and Micron Technology. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.