By Shashwat Chauhan
Jan 14 (Reuters) – Retail investors increased purchases of U.S. memory chip and data storage makers in January, following strong momentum in 2025 on expectations that growing demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure will tighten supply and lift prices.
An acute global shortage of memory chips is forcing artificial intelligence and consumer electronics companies to scramble for dwindling supplies, which is expected to support a multi-year delay for memory chip makers.
Samsung co-CEO TM Roh described the memory chip shortage as “unprecedented” in an interview with Reuters earlier this month, echoing rivals who have warned that constraints could persist for months, if not years, as the AI infrastructure race continues to hog supplies.
Data storage device maker SanDisk, whose shares have soared about 65% so far in 2026, recorded more than $7.1 million in retail inflows on Monday alone, the biggest one-day move on record, according to data from Vanda Research.
Western Digital has seen nearly $10 million in inflows in the first two weeks of January, putting it on track for its strongest monthly result since October 2025, while Seagate Technology has seen more than $2.1 million in inflows so far this year.
2025 was a record year for retail capital inflows into the United States, as individual investors became a major force behind Wall Street’s rally. Total flows from mom-and-pop traders for these three stocks amounted to more than $117.2 million last year.
Micron Technology, one of the world’s “Big Three” memory makers along with Samsung and SK Hynix, is up 18% so far in 2026, after rising 240% in 2025.
“Memory chips are certainly among the topics our clients are excited about these days. It’s not unusual to see No. 3 Micron ranked among the leaders, but seeing SanDisk at No. 4 tells us it’s more than just a coincidence,” said Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers.
Micron and SanDisk were among the five most active stocks on the Interactive Brokers platform over the past five trading days, Sosnick said.
SanDisk, whose shares have risen nearly tenfold since listing in February 2025, is “the largest holding in the actively managed Roundhill Meme Stock ETF.”
(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)