Sandisk and Kioxia unveiled a 332-layer QLC 3D flash tech offering up to 60% greater bit density than their eighth-gen design.

  • Sandisk and SK Hynix released the first Open Compute Project specification for high-bandwidth flash.
  • Rosenblatt initiated SKHY at ‘Buy’ with a $320 target, implying 107% upside, while Cantor’s $300 target represents 94% upside.
  • Analysts expect AI-driven DRAM and NAND demand to exceed supply through 2029 or longer.

Shares of Sandisk (SNDK) and SK Hynix (SKHY) slipped in early premarket trading on Wednesday despite the former unveiling record-density AI flash tech, and analysts said SK Hynix could more than double. 

While SNDK stock slipped 0.4% in premarket trading, SKHY declined over 2%.

Sandisk Raises The Bar For AI Flash

Sandisk and Kioxia unveiled their 10th-gen quad-level-cell (QLC) 3D flash tech at the Future of Memory and Storage (FMS) Conference on Tuesday. The 332-layer design delivers up to 60% greater bit density than the company’s eighth-gen tech and exceeds 37 gigabits per square millimeter, which they called an industry high. It is also the first QLC 3D flash tech to achieve a 4.8-gigabit-per-second interface.

The tech manufactures the memory array and its control circuitry on separate wafers before bonding them together, improving density, bandwidth and production efficiency. These gains target the growing storage, power and cooling demands created by AI training, inference and hyperscale data centers.

Sandisk, SK Hynix Advance HBF Standard

The QLC tech is a Sandisk-Kioxia project, but it complements Sandisk’s work with SK Hynix on high-bandwidth flash (HBF). Sandisk and SK Hynix on Tuesday released the first HBF technical specification through the Open Compute Project, with Google and Tenstorrent contributing to its development. The specification gives chip and system designers a common framework for placing larger amounts of flash memory closer to AI processors.

HBF will supplement traditional high-bandwidth memory by providing greater near-compute capacity for AI inference, potentially improving model-serving performance, power consumption and costs. Sandisk, SK Hynix and Google will also discuss the emerging technology during an FMS panel titled “Breaking the Memory Wall with High Bandwidth Flash” on Thursday. 

SKHY Stock: Wall Street Sees Up To Over 100% Upside 

Rosenblatt initiated SKHY coverage at ‘Buy’ with a Street-high $320 price target, implying 107% upside from Tuesday’s close. The firm called SK Hynix the memory industry’s “technology leader at a discount,” citing its high-bandwidth-memory leadership and structural limits on supply growth.

Cantor Fitzgerald assigned an ‘Overweight’ rating and a $300 target, representing 94% upside. The brokerage firm expects demand for DRAM and NAND to exceed supply through 2029, “if not longer,” as generative, agentic and physical AI require increasing amounts of memory.

“Customers now [lock] in supply several years out,” Cantor said, noting that some agreements include fixed volumes, pricing commitments, upfront payments and penalties. This could give memory manufacturers “structurally higher profitability” and greater visibility than in previous cycles.

Meanwhile, Bank of America Securities’ (BofA) $250 target implies nearly 62% upside, while Stifel’s $240 forecast represents about 55%. Wolfe also initiated SK Hynix at ‘Outperform,’ highlighting supply agreements offering “exceptional visibility and price security.” Additionally, Needham began coverage at ‘Buy’ and called the company “uniquely positioned” as a full-stack provider of memory for AI infrastructure.

How Do Retail Traders Feel About SNDK And SKHY?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for SKHY was ‘bearish’ amid ‘low’ message volume, while SNDK sentiment was ‘extremely bullish’ amid ‘high’ chatter. 

One user said, “$SNDK HBF technology use and memory going to challenge HBM storage. SNDK is going to leapfrog the industry!!!!”

View this Stocktwits post

Another user said, “Those that are not aware, the HBF will be the next hot memory that complements HBM and $SNDK and $SKHY are leading the technology.”

View this Stocktwits post

While SNDK stock has rocketed 3,258% over the past year, SKHY has declined 8% over the same period. 

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.<