Memory Stocks Slide 3% as Jensen Huang's Exit Rattles AI Suppliers

Sandisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) fell 3% to $950.98 in morning trading on November 12, as a leadership shock at NVIDIA spread through the memory supply chain. Micron (NASDAQ: MU) dropped 3% to $789.90, and SK Hynix (NASDAQ: SKHY) American Depositary Shares slipped 3% to $137.99 in the same session.

The trigger sits at the top of the AI hardware industry. Jensen Huang has resigned as chief executive of NVIDIA, and traders spent November 12 working through what the exit means for the company's suppliers. Memory makers sit close to NVIDIA in that chain, because its accelerators depend on high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and fast data center storage.

The selling is concentrated rather than broad. The NASDAQ 100 rose 0.3% on the day, and technology ranked among the market's leading sectors. Sandisk moved in step with the other large memory makers that supply the AI buildout, while profit taking in memory names may have added pressure.

What did Evercore ISI say?

Sandisk's decline came one day after a defense of the stock. On November 11, Evercore ISI pointed to stable NAND storage demand and maintained a $2,500 price target on Sandisk. That research gives the bulls a reference point, but one analyst call carries limited weight against a shock at the AI industry's biggest name. The gap between a $2,500 target and a $950.98 print shows how much of the story the market now treats as unresolved.

Why do the three companies fall together?

All three names lean on heavy AI infrastructure spending, but they reach it through different product sets.

• Sandisk is a pure-play NAND flash supplier, spun off from Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC) as an independent public company. Enterprise SSDs for AI infrastructure are its fastest-growing market, edge devices form its largest end market, and retail storage rounds out the lineup. Flash wafers come from Flash Ventures, its manufacturing joint venture with Kioxia.
• Micron runs a broader, vertically integrated model spanning DRAM, NAND, NOR flash and HBM, built on advanced process technology. Multi-year Strategic Customer Agreements are designed to make its demand more durable.
• SK Hynix counts HBM as its core strength and is the leading supplier for AI accelerators, including NVIDIA's. Its ADS listing gives U.S. buyers direct exposure, though reporting in Korean won adds a currency layer.

Sandisk secures its position differently, using long-term contracts with customer prepayments and deposits rather than Micron's strategic agreement structure. The shared exposure is the point: when sentiment toward AI hardware shifts, all three move in the same direction.

Is Micron's valuation a signal?

Micron trades at a trailing price-to-earnings ratio of 10x and a forward P/E of 4x. Those are low multiples for a company at the center of an AI memory boom, and they may appeal to value-focused shareholders.

A very low forward P/E can carry a warning too. Memory is a cyclical business, and a depressed multiple may signal that the market doubts Micron's peak earnings will last. The company's next earnings report could put that skepticism to the test.

What comes next for the memory trade?

Sandisk's next test is whether AI data center demand for enterprise SSDs holds firm while NVIDIA works through its leadership change. The bulls can point to the stable NAND demand Evercore ISI highlighted and to Sandisk's fast-growing data center business.

The bears see a stock that could stay volatile if AI spending plans face fresh scrutiny, a question SK Hynix and Micron share. Until NVIDIA's leadership transition resolves, investors may want to stay cautious on all three names.