What Sandisk's play on surging memory prices means for our tech stocks

sandisk said on its earnings call that it's seeing more interest in multi-year supply agreements — five signed so far, valued at over $11 billion. the longest commitment runs five years, with a mix of fixed and variable pricing. the cfo called the customers "very meaningful" but didn't name them. this matters because memory prices are surging, driven by ai demand. meta directly cited higher memory pricing for raising its capex guidance. microsoft said rising component costs accounted for about $25 billion of its $190 billion calendar 2026 capex plan. apple told investors the headwind will stick around. for the customers signing these deals, the trade-off is clear: guaranteed supply now, but financial exposure if demand drops. sandisk framed it as a way to avoid the boom-and-bust cycles that have historically hit memory makers. the leverage is clearly with suppliers right now.