AI-driven chip demand has fueled a surge in memory and computer storage stocks.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s according to a Sunday (Jan. 25) report<\/a> from the Financial Times (FT), which noted that while data storage companies had long been considered a less glamorous part of the IT hardware space, their stocks have jumped in recent months as artificial intelligence (AI) build-out is projected to surpass $500 billion for the year.<\/p>\n Shares in SanDisk<\/a> have doubled since the beginning of the year, and are up nearly 1,100% since August. Micron<\/a> and Western Digital<\/a> have tripled during the same time frame, along with Korean chipmaker SK Hynix<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cBy any measure, that\u2019s an eye-watering few months,\u201d said Arun Sai<\/a>, a multi-asset strategist at Pictet Asset Management<\/a>, referring to SanDisk\u2019s gains. \u201cThe narrative [in the AI rally] has shifted to memory being the choke point in the sustained AI capex build-out.\u201d<\/p>\n The report added that the sector\u2019s rally was reignited recently when Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said that \u201cholding the working memory of the world\u2019s AIs\u201d could soon become \u201cthe largest storage market in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe use for this high-bandwidth memory [in AI] has just exploded,\u201d Rene Haas<\/a>, CEO chip designer Arm<\/a>, told the FT at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, painting demand as \u201can insatiable need.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement: Scroll to Continue<\/p>\n Huang was also in Davos, where he argued that AI is not a bubble<\/a>, but an opportunity everyone should get involved in, as PYMNTS wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cThe \u2018AI bubble\u2019 <\/a>comes about because the investments are large, and the investments are large because we have to build the infrastructure necessary for all of the layers of AI above it,\u201d Huang said. \u201cSo, I think the opportunity is really quite extraordinary, and everybody ought to get involved, everybody ought to get engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n The AI boom has driven a need for more energy, infrastructure and trade-skilled workers, the CEO added. It has also fueled growing opportunities and scale of investments, making 2025 the biggest investment year<\/a> for AI in the history of venture capital.<\/p>\n \u201cThese AI companies are building basically the application layer above, and they\u2019re going to need infrastructure, they\u2019re going to need our investment, to go build this future,\u201d Huang said.<\/p>\n