Why Sandisk Stock Rallied Today

Key Points AI chip stocks got a lift from Nvidia's acquisition of Hugging Face. The chipmaker is further expanding its reach in open-source AI models. What benefits Nvidia, by extension, benefits Sandisk. 10 stocks we like better than Sandisk › Shares of Sandisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) charged sharply higher on Friday, jumping as much as 8.9%. As of 11:02 a.m. ET, the stock was still up 8.5%. The semiconductor specialist rallied on news of a notable acquisition by an artificial intelligence (AI) peer. Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue » Image source: The Motley Fool. Let the chips fall where they may Rumors have run rampant in recent days that Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) was courting open-source AI and machine learning development platform Hugging Face. The speculation was put to bed late yesterday when the chipmaker confirmed the acquisition. Nvidia will pay $12.9 billion for the AI model platform, in what many are calling a defensive move. In a blog post, Nvidia noted that Hugging Face has extensive reach in the AI developer community, boasting more than 18 million users, 3 million models, 500,000 data sets, and more than 1 million applications. Moreover, "more than 200,000 companies use the platform to discover, evaluate, customize, and deploy AI." Furthermore, CEO Jensen Huang noted that more than half of Nvidia's sales are "largely driven by open models." Indeed, the company is already the largest contributor of open models and data to Hugging Face, so Nvidia is taking the relationship to the next level. So, what does this have to do with Sandisk? While the connection is tenuous, it is meaningful. Nvidia's chipmaking business has been supercharged over the past few years by the broad adoption of generative AI and the ongoing development of AI agents. Demand for Nvidia's graphics processing units (GPUs), which are critical to running AI in data centers, has also fueled demand for Sandisk's NAND flash memory chips, which are also crucial components. Generally speaking, what's good for Nvidia is also positive for Sandisk, which is why the Hugging Face acquisition is driving Sandisk stock higher today. On an unrelated note, it didn't hurt that during its earnings call earlier this week, Dell Technologies COO Jeffrey Clarke said that the supply imbalance for AI servers came down to one thing: memory. "The constraints remain the same," he said. "DRAM, DRAM, DRAM, followed by NAND, NAND, NAND." And at 23 times earnings and just 8 times forward earnings, Sandisk stock is still attractively priced. Should you buy stock in Sandisk right now? Before you buy stock in Sandisk, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Sandisk wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $445,833 !* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,402,153 !* Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 993 % — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 214% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor , and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of September 4, 2026. Danny Vena, CPA , has positions in Nvidia and Sandisk. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy .

AI chip stocks got a lift from Nvidia's acquisition of Hugging Face.

The chipmaker is further expanding its reach in open-source AI models.

Shares of Sandisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) charged sharply higher on Friday, jumping as much as 8.9%. As of 11:02 a.m. ET, the stock was still up 8.5%.

The semiconductor specialist rallied on news of a notable acquisition by an artificial intelligence (AI) peer.

Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »

Rumors have run rampant in recent days that Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) was courting open-source AI and machine learning development platform Hugging Face. The speculation was put to bed late yesterday when the chipmaker confirmed the acquisition.

Nvidia will pay $12.9 billion for the AI model platform, in what many are calling a defensive move. In a blog post, Nvidia noted that Hugging Face has extensive reach in the AI developer community, boasting more than 18 million users, 3 million models, 500,000 data sets, and more than 1 million applications. Moreover, "more than 200,000 companies use the platform to discover, evaluate, customize, and deploy AI."