Memory and storage stocks surged as AI demand slammed into tight supply

The memory trade is pulling in capital fast as chip shortages collide with nonstop AI demand. Storage and chip stocks are climbing hard while investors look past fading megacap rallies and hunt for the next place where cash flow still looks tight.

This corner of tech used to bore investors. Storage was slow, dull, and ignored. That changed as AI spending surged.

The global AI infrastructure push is now expected to pass $500bn this year. While megacap stocks stalled, storage-linked names ripped higher, turning an overlooked market into one of the loudest trades on the board.

Chip shortages push prices and stocks higher

SanDisk shares have nearly doubled since January and climbed almost 1,100 per cent since August last year. Micron and Western Digital tripled in that same window.

SK Hynix did the same. The rally delivered billions in gains to hedge funds that moved early, including DE Shaw and Arrowstreet Capital.

Arun Sai of Pictet Asset Management called the run extreme, saying, “By any measure, that’s an eye-watering few months.” He added that the AI story now centers on memory as the main bottleneck in long-term capital spending.

The rally picked up again after Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang said “holding the working memory of the world’s AIs” could soon become “the largest storage market in the world.”

His comments pushed more money into the sector as traders reassessed what limits AI growth.

Micron, SK Hynix, and Samsung dominate the supply of fast solid-state chips that feed Nvidia processors.

These chips keep large AI systems running, including models behind ChatGPT. As AI tools grew more advanced, data usage exploded. That surge lifted demand for flash products sold by SanDisk and similar firms.

Because this type of memory costs more, demand spilled into older systems too. Western Digital and Seagate saw stronger interest in magnetic hard drives as buyers looked for cheaper ways to store rising data volumes.

Rene Haas of Arm said demand had jumped fast. “The use for this high-bandwidth memory has just exploded,” he said in Davos, calling demand “an insatiable need.”

Investors rotate as hedge funds lock in gains

Manufacturers remain cautious. The memory market swings between shortage and surplus every few years. New factories cost billions and take years. Companies are holding back, even as demand runs hot. That restraint tightened supply further.

Richard Clode of Janus Henderson compared it to raw materials. “Like any other commodity, you end up with pricing just going berserk,” he said. Ben Bajarin of Creative Strategies expects shortages to last until “2028 at least.”

The investor shift comes as the megacap rally lost steam. The S&P 500 surge slowed after a mid-November sell-off tied to valuation fears and heavy spending.

Nvidia still trades 11 per cent below its October peak, despite becoming the world’s first $5tn company last year. Among hyperscalers like Oracle, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon, only Alphabet reached new highs since November.

Sai said the market changed tone. “The AI trade is no longer just about holding a basket of exposed names. The market has turned more discerning between winners and losers.”

Hedge fund filings show aggressive bets on the memory theme. DE Shaw raised its stakes in SanDisk, Micron, Seagate, and Western Digital last quarter. Holding those positions through today would have delivered about $3.9bn in gains.

Arrowstreet added SanDisk and Seagate and would have earned $1.3bn. Renaissance Technologies doubled its SanDisk position and raised Western Digital holdings fivefold, booking roughly $435mn if held.

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