Why SanDisk Stock Is Falling With Micron Today

SanDisk shares traded lower, down about 1.3%, on Thursday. The decline wasn't due to company-specific bad news but was part of a broader sell-off in memory and storage stocks.

The drop was triggered by a mixed market reaction to earnings from fellow memory-chip giant Micron. While Micron reported revenue and earnings that beat expectations, its stock fell as investors focused on the company's aggressive spending plans and the long timeline for new production facilities to come online.

This created concern across the memory sector. The core issue is timing: surging AI-driven demand for memory is happening now, but new supply from major capacity expansions won't meaningfully hit the market until 2025 or later. This lag is creating uncertainty.

Adding to the pressure, the entire semiconductor sector was weak due to broader market declines and geopolitical worries, specifically fears that Middle East tensions could disrupt the supply of helium, a gas critical for chip manufacturing.

For investors, this matters because it highlights the highly cyclical and interconnected nature of the memory-chip business. SanDisk's stock price can be pulled down by news from a competitor, demonstrating that sector sentiment often outweighs individual company performance in the short term.

The underlying supply-demand tension is crucial. Analysts point out that memory is a supply-driven business, and long lead times for building new fabrication plants mean shortages could persist. This is a double-edged sword: it supports high prices but also creates volatility as the market reacts to every update on future capacity.

Despite the daily drop, SanDisk's own story remains remarkably strong. The stock is still up over 1,200% in the past year and is trading firmly above its key long-term moving averages, indicating the primary uptrend is intact.

The technical picture confirms this strength. Key momentum indicators like the MACD are still bullish, suggesting the recent dip may be a pause within a larger upward move. However, the stock's massive run-up means it is susceptible to pullbacks on any sector-wide negative news.