Micron and Sandisk Have Crushed Nvidia as the Top Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock in 2026. Can That Continue? - The Motley Fool

In 2026, NVIDIA, long considered the industry standard for AI computing stocks, has underperformed compared to its previous years' stellar returns, even though it still outperforms the S&P 500. Meanwh... Read original →

The 2026 memory surge reflects AI hitting the 'memory wall'—not a fluke. While NVIDIA dominates AI training silicon, its GPU clusters’ hunger for HBM DRAM and high-density NAND has made Micron and SanDisk critical enablers. Technically, HBM3E adoption and CXL-based memory pooling are forcing DRAM scaling, while QLC NAND’s rise in inference data centers strains SanDisk’s output. Geopolitically, U.S.-Japan-Netherlands export controls inflate advanced memory fab costs, tightening supply elasticity. In response, Samsung and SK Hynix may revive tacit pricing coordination, while NVIDIA could lock in HBM via custom CoWoS integration. Over the next 18 months, if AI capex shifts from raw FLOPS to power efficiency, memory pricing power will plateau—clearing the path for NVIDIA’s Blackwell Ultra and Rubin architectures to reclaim momentum.