U.S. NAND flash company SanDisk said it expects its revenue to grow at a mid- to high-teens percentage annually, boosted by rising memory demand from increased artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure investment. It is also accelerating efforts to secure an early lead in the next-generation high-bandwidth flash (HBF) market while expanding long-term supply contracts to reduce earnings volatility.
On the 13th (local time), Reuters and MarketWatch reported that SanDisk said at its investor day that it expects revenue in fiscal years 2028–2030 to grow annually at a mid- to high-teens percentage. That is similar to the bit growth (shipment growth rate on a bit basis) the company projects for the same period.
Luis Bissoso, SanDisk chief financial officer (CFO), projected that the adjusted gross margin would be maintained at about 80% over the same period.
SanDisk is also expanding a new business model (NBM) in the nature of long-term supply contracts. So far, it has signed NBM deals with eight customers, including three U.S. hyperscalers, with an average contract duration of four years. Contract volumes will account for half of total bit production in fiscal 2027 (September 2026–August 2027) and two-thirds in fiscal 2028.
Bissoso, the CFO, said NBM is more profitable than the traditional transaction method and reduces earnings volatility from price swings, adding that the company plans to expand it as its main transaction method. Amit Daryanani, an analyst at Evercore ISI, said, "SanDisk believes it can secure a highly attractive return from these contracts even under floor price terms."
It also disclosed the status of next-generation HBF development. Alper Ilkbahar, SanDisk chief technology officer (CTO), said the company has completed tape-out (design completion) of its first memory die using HBF technology and plans to supply initial samples next year to customers developing AI inference systems.
HBF is a technology that stacks multiple NAND flashes vertically to increase bandwidth, aiming to combine the high data processing speed of HBM with NAND's large capacity and expense competitiveness. As the memory capacity required in AI model inference rises rapidly, it is drawing attention as a next-generation memory technology for data centers.
Earlier this month SanDisk launched a consortium with SK hynix to build the HBF ecosystem and set industry standards. Google and Meta also joined the consortium. CFO Bissoso said the participation of major tech companies illustrates the importance of HBF technology.
SanDisk's mid- to long-term outlook is based on the view that NAND demand for AI data centers is rising rapidly. In last week's earnings release, the company also said first-quarter revenue would beat market expectations, citing increased memory demand for AI data centers.
SanDisk also said it plans to return all free cash remaining after excluding capital expenditures to shareholders. With the growth outlook and long-term contract expansion plans disclosed, SanDisk shares jumped 13.7% on the day. The stock is up 455% this year.