SanDisk Surges Up to 12% on Nvidia's Hugging Face Deal and Accelerating NAND Pricing Cycle

SanDisk shares jumped as much as 12% on Friday, September 4, closing as the top weekly gainer on the Nasdaq, as a pair of catalysts combined to drive the strongest single-session move in memory stocks in weeks. The primary spark was Nvidia's acquisition of Hugging Face, which lifted the broader AI chip complex and directly benefited SanDisk given its exposure to AI-driven data center storage demand. Micron also surged, rising roughly 4-5%, while the iShares Semiconductor ETF climbed 3% to $516.92.

The rally unfolded even as a hotter-than-expected August payroll report briefly pushed Fed rate hike odds above 50% and weighed on the broader market. Treasury yields initially eased ahead of the report, helping memory names gain in premarket trading, with SanDisk up 3% and Micron up roughly 2% before the open. The two stocks held and extended those gains through the session despite the macro headwind.

Underpinning the move was growing conviction that the NAND pricing cycle is still accelerating. Susquehanna has raised its SanDisk price target to $3,250 from $2,000 with a Buy rating, citing industry checks pointing to NAND price increases of 75% to 100% in the second quarter. SanDisk's most recent quarterly revenue rose 372% year over year, reflecting the structural shortage in NAND flash that has given the company significant pricing power.

Lynx Research added fresh analyst support on Friday, assigning a $2,450 price target on SanDisk and $1,325 on Micron, arguing both stocks are set up for technical breakouts as market volatility cools and buying in the memory sector becomes more consistent. SanDisk ended the day up roughly 12% according to Seeking Alpha, which ranked it as the leading Nasdaq weekly gainer, while a separate 247wallst and Yahoo Finance tally put the intraday peak near 8-10% before the final close.