Sandisk Falls 4% as Nvidia CEO Steps Down
Sandisk shares closed at $937.46 Thursday after Nvidia announced Jensen Huang's resignation as chief executive.
Updated on Nov. 13, 2026 in Semiconductors
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Sandisk closed Thursday at $937.46, down $40.23, or 4.11 percent, from Wednesday's $977.69 close. The decline followed Nvidia's announcement that Jensen Huang stepped down as president, chief executive and director, effective immediately.
Why it matters
Investors cut exposure to AI hardware names across the board after the Nvidia leadership change. Sandisk sells a large share of its flash storage into data centres alongside Nvidia GPUs in AI systems, linking its share price to that sector.
Sandisk's Thursday decline came after a 13.7 percent gain on Wednesday and a 22.26 percent drop on 5 November, showing sharp swings in the stock. Analyst price targets diverge widely, with JPMorgan at $2,250, Wells Fargo cutting to $1,300 and RBC cutting to $1,400, leaving the stock's direction unresolved.
The players
Sandisk
Sandisk is a publicly traded maker of flash memory and storage products whose shares have shown extreme volatility in 2026.
Nvidia
Nvidia is a leading designer of graphics processing units used in artificial intelligence and data centre systems.
Jensen Huang
Jensen Huang co-founded Nvidia and led it as president and chief executive until stepping down with immediate effect.
Colette Kress
Colette Kress is Nvidia's finance chief who has been named interim chief executive following Huang's departure.
The details
Nvidia said Huang stepped down effective immediately and named finance chief Colette Kress interim chief executive. Sandisk is also executing an 8-for-1 stock split, with a record date of 9 November and split-adjusted trading beginning 20 November.
Timeline
5 November 2026: Sandisk fell 22.26 percent to $806.43.
9 November 2026: Sandisk split record date.
12 November 2026: Nvidia announced Huang's resignation.
17 November 2026: Nvidia quarterly results scheduled.
19-20 November 2026: Split shares distributed on the 19th; split-adjusted trading begins on the 20th.
Market Landscape
Sandisk's pullback from its 22 June 2026 record high of $2,354.39 reflects how closely memory and storage stocks have tracked the AI-hardware rally. Its fall now sits alongside a broader pattern in which AI chip and supplier shares react together to leadership news at Nvidia, the sector's dominant GPU maker.
Investors holding Sandisk or other AI-linked hardware stocks face continued price swings tied to Nvidia's leadership change and quarterly results. The 8-for-1 split means shareholders will hold eight times as many shares at a price one-eighth as large after distribution on 19 November.
The takeaway
Sandisk's sharp moves show how exposed AI-linked hardware stocks remain to leadership news at Nvidia. Watching the 17 November earnings report and the split's trading start on 20 November will clarify how the sector is pricing that risk.
What happens next
Nvidia reports quarterly results on 17 November 2026, and Sandisk's split-adjusted shares begin trading on 20 November 2026.
Further reading
For more on how chip makers respond to shifts in AI demand, explore our Semiconductors coverage.
Source note: This article includes information reported by FinanceFeeds.
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