Sandisk to Join Nasdaq-100 Amid AI-Driven Storage Surge

Sandisk is scheduled to join the Nasdaq-100 index on April 20, following a period of extraordinary valuation growth fueled by the artificial intelligence boom. The company, which was spun off from Western Digital in early 2025, has seen its share price advance more than 2,700% over the last twelve months. The inclusion comes as Sandisk replaces Atlassian, which failed to maintain the required minimum index weight of 0.1% for two consecutive months. Historically, stocks added to the Nasdaq-100 have seen an average return of 18% over the following year, largely due to mandatory buying from index-tracking funds, though historical exceptions exist. Sandisk specializes in NAND flash memory and enterprise solid-state drives (SSDs), which are essential for training and storing large-scale AI models. The company's financial performance reflects this demand; in the January quarter, sales jumped 61% to $3 billion, while non-GAAP earnings soared 404% to $6.20 per diluted share. Currently tied for fourth place in the NAND flash market with Micron Technology, Sandisk has captured an additional 2 percentage points of market share over the past year. This growth is supported by a significant supply shortage of high-performance storage solutions, which has led to substantial price increases across the sector. Wall Street analysts remain divided on the stock's valuation. While the median target price of $843 suggests a slight downside from the current price of $921, Evercore analyst Amit Daryanani has outlined a bullish scenario. Daryanani suggests the stock could reach $2,600 per share, implying a potential 182% upside if the current supply shortage persists through 2028.