In case you haven"t noticed, RAM is crazy expensive thanks to the rapid growth of generative artificial intelligence and the massive demand for specialized High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), used in AI accelerators and data centers.
This has led companies like Micron to exit the consumer memory market and shift manufacturing priorities towards enterprise customers. A bunch of companies (like SK hynix and Samsung) recently held earnings calls, and the numbers don"t lie: the memory business is highly profitable right now.
For Q4 2025, SK hynix reported an operating profit of about $33 billion. Samsung"s Device Solutions Division saw an operating profit of roughly $11.46 billion, with its memory business alone pulling in a record $30.8 billion in revenue.
SanDisk is the latest company to cash in on this booming market, releasing its fiscal second-quarter 2026 earnings and sending its stock up nearly 7%. According to CNBC, this surge came directly from the overwhelming demand for its chips, fueled by the AI boom.
For its fiscal second quarter, ending December 2025, SanDisk reported $3.03 billion in revenue, surpassing analyst forecasts of $2.69 billion. This marks a 31% sequential increase and 61% year-over-year growth.
SanDisk also posted non-GAAP diluted net income per share of $6.20, beating the $3.62 per share analysts had expected, and the company"s datacenter business saw its revenue jump by 64% sequentially to $440 million.
Looking ahead, SanDisk"s Q3 2026 guidance projects revenue between $4.40 billion and $4.80 billion, far exceeding analyst expectations of $2.93 billion, with adjusted earnings between $12 and $14 per share.
As CNBC notes, Apple has been particularly hit by the same memory shortage and higher component costs. During its first-quarter 2026 earnings report on Thursday, Apple acknowledged its supply chain found itself in "supply chase mode" to meet "very high levels of customer demand," especially for iPhones. The company mentioned needing to secure more advanced nodes for systems on a chip and dealing with higher memory costs going forward.