Sandisk (NASDAQ:SNDK) Chief Executive Officer David Goeckeler and Chief Financial Officer Luis Visoso said the company is navigating a rapidly shifting NAND flash market in which data center demand is becoming the dominant driver, pushing customers and suppliers toward longer-term supply arrangements and new business practices.
Management: NAND market is undergoing “fundamental structural changes”
In a discussion moderated by Bernstein analyst Mark Newman, Goeckeler framed the current pricing strength in NAND as a symptom of deeper changes in market structure rather than a typical cycle. He said that by calendar 2026, Sandisk expects data center to become the largest end market for NAND, a shift from what he described as 10 to 15 years of the market being predominantly device-driven.
Long-term agreements: from price negotiation to supply assurance
Newman asked how Sandisk is thinking about long-term agreements (LTAs) in a fast-rising price environment, including whether such deals could cap upside. Goeckeler said the industry is working through how to better align supply and demand, noting that NAND pricing reflects daily market clearing rather than a single company setting prices.
Visoso said the objective is a “sustainable and attractive financial model” over longer periods, adding that Sandisk may manage a “portfolio” approach across customers that includes fixed and variable pricing structures designed to perform well in both up and down markets.
In discussing customer commitments, Goeckeler said the company is trying to establish business constructs—potentially spanning one to five years—that provide predictable, growing demand and attractive economics, acknowledging that NAND manufacturing runs continuously and cannot pause for weak quarters.
Visoso added that in a tighter market, customers willing to engage in longer-term agreements may receive preference in availability versus those that prefer quarter-by-quarter price negotiations. He emphasized that Sandisk is allocating supply daily and is open to longer-term pricing discussions with customers.
Capacity and investment: maintaining plans while seeking long-term conviction
Asked whether the gap between demand and supply is changing the calculus around adding capacity—particularly given limited industrywide additions—Goeckeler pointed back to Sandisk’s stated plans to invest “billions of dollars” and “hundreds of millions” in R&D to support “mid to high teens” bit growth. He said the company remains comfortable with that investment pace, but suggested it is too soon to conclude that much larger incremental investments are warranted without firmer long-term demand conviction.
Goeckeler also challenged the framing of “shortages,” saying markets instead move toward balance through price and that lower pricing can increase demand, which does not necessarily create an attractive basis for further investment. He said Sandisk’s job is to maximize the value of its franchise and understand “the sustained growth rate of attractive business.”
Data center momentum and product roadmap: enterprise SSDs, Stargate, and BiCS8
On business mix, Goeckeler described Sandisk’s evolution in “three arcs”: a consumer franchise heritage, a period tied to the rise of client SSDs, and a current push to build out enterprise and data center. He said the company has been focused on expanding its enterprise SSD portfolio since he arrived, and cited recent growth figures: two quarters earlier, he said data center posted “low, mid-20s” sequential growth, followed by “64% sequential growth” in the most recent quarter. He said Sandisk expects that pace to increase through the rest of the year.
Goeckeler discussed two key enterprise SSD product categories:
- Compute-focused drives, including 8TB and 16TB PCIe Gen 5 products, which he said have been driving current growth.
- Storage-focused, higher-capacity drives spanning 64TB to 128TB initially, with larger capacities on the roadmap. He said this product line—codenamed Stargate—is based on a “clean-sheet” ASIC and uses BiCS8 QLC technology. He noted that Stargate was in qualification at the 128TB level and had not yet started shipping for revenue, meaning recent growth occurred without it.
On technology cadence, Newman asked about “chatter” suggesting Sandisk might accelerate BiCS10 to meet hyperscaler needs. Goeckeler said the company is not accelerating BiCS10, and expects to exit the fiscal year with BiCS8 as the predominant node in its portfolio. He said Sandisk can meet demand and its targeted bit growth with its current BiCS8 and capital spending plans.
Goeckeler also said he views AI as a clear tailwind for NAND, arguing that as models, caches, and content lengths grow, AI architectures require scalable storage technologies. He said the question of whether AI impacts NAND has been “put to bed” in his view.
High Bandwidth Flash partnership with SK hynix
Goeckeler highlighted progress on High Bandwidth Flash (HBF), a concept Sandisk introduced around the time of its public relisting. He said initial skepticism has faded as the AI storage conversation has evolved, and noted Sandisk formed a partnership with SK hynix after that company expressed interest in collaborating.
He clarified that Sandisk and SK hynix are collaborating on how HBF fits into a system—such as specifications and interfaces—rather than jointly developing the NAND die or controller. Goeckeler said Sandisk expects to have the HBF NAND die toward the end of the year, and is working on the controller and system integration, with a goal of getting systems into customers’ hands roughly a year later for evaluation and infrastructure fit.
He said HBF is aimed at inference rather than training, stating the company is not positioning it as a replacement for high-bandwidth memory in AI training. He described inference as a scaling challenge across devices and cloud infrastructure, where density and a NAND-driven roadmap could be advantageous.
In closing remarks, Goeckeler also pointed to Sandisk’s consumer brand strength, confidence in its technology roadmap, and the importance of its long-standing joint venture with Kioxia, including a five-year extension at Yokkaichi. He reiterated that Sandisk is focused on establishing more consistent industry practices to reduce volatility and create a sustainable model, arguing that the market is transitioning in ways that differ from prior memory cycles.
About Sandisk (NASDAQ:SNDK)
SanDisk Corporation offers flash storage solutions. The Company designs, develops and manufactures data storage solutions in a range of form factors using flash memory, controller, firmware and software technologies. The Company operates through flash memory storage products segment. Its solutions include a range of solid state drives (SSD), embedded products, removable cards, universal serial bus (USB), drives, wireless media drives, digital media players, and wafers and components. It offers SSDs for client computing applications, which encompass desktop computers, notebook computers, tablets and other computing devices.
