Key Takeaways
- Sandisk (SNDK) receives new $2,200 price target from Mizuho, up from $1,825, with Outperform rating maintained
- Mizuho upgrades price targets for Seagate (STX) and Western Digital (WDC) alongside positive memory sector outlook
- Artificial intelligence applications creating supply-demand mismatch in memory chips, with DRAM demand projected to surge 27% year-over-year in 2026
- Google’s (GOOGL) Tensor Processing Unit shipments forecast to exceed 35 million units by 2028, up sharply from approximately 4.3 million in 2026
- Broadcom (AVGO) AI-related revenue projections increased to $122 billion for 2027 and new $170 billion forecast introduced for 2028
Mizuho Securities has significantly increased its valuation target for Sandisk (SNDK) to $2,200, representing a substantial jump from the previous $1,825 target. The investment firm attributes this optimistic outlook to artificial intelligence creating unprecedented demand that will outstrip memory supply capacity. The Outperform recommendation remains unchanged.
This optimistic perspective wasn’t limited to Sandisk alone. Mizuho also enhanced its outlook for Seagate Technology (STX), elevating the price target to $1,090 from $875, while Western Digital (WDC) saw its target climb to $685 from $550. Each company maintained its Outperform designation.
Seagate Technology Holdings plc, STX
Sandisk began trading Monday at $1,982 and has gained approximately 5.69% during the session in response to the analyst upgrade.
Led by analyst Vijay Rakesh, the Mizuho research team anticipates DRAM wafer production starts will expand 10% during 2026 and another 6% in 2027, primarily fueled by high-bandwidth memory (HBM) requirements. Their projections indicate DRAM consumption will accelerate 27% year-over-year in 2026, followed by 24% growth in 2027.
Regarding NAND flash memory, enterprise solid-state drives (eSSD) represent the primary growth catalyst. Mizuho’s analysis predicts total NAND consumption will increase 18% year-over-year in both 2026 and 2027, even as wafer production starts contract 5% in 2026 before rebounding 3% in 2027. Additional production capacity isn’t anticipated to come online until 2028.
Google TPU Shipments in Focus
Mizuho recently conducted its quarterly artificial intelligence ASIC roadmap conference call, revealing striking projections for Google’s Tensor Processing Unit volumes. The firm anticipates more than 35 million TPU shipments from Google during 2028, representing a dramatic increase from approximately 4.3 million in 2026 and roughly 2.4 million in 2025.
This explosive growth trajectory stems from Google’s strategic initiative to expand TPU availability externally through collaborations with companies like Anthropic and additional partners. Mizuho notes this projection substantially exceeds their previous estimate of approximately 7 million ASIC shipments related to Broadcom, suggesting considerable upside potential for the semiconductor manufacturer.
Broadcom AI Revenue Estimates Lifted
Broadcom (AVGO) stands to benefit from an estimated 50 million cumulative TPU shipments spanning 2026 through 2028. Beyond this, Meta’s (META) MTIA v3/v4/v5 accelerator platforms and OpenAI’s forthcoming ASIC — where Broadcom serves as a critical design partner — provide additional growth drivers.
Mizuho has revised upward its Broadcom AI-related revenue projection for 2027 to $122 billion, up from the previous $120 billion forecast, and has introduced a new 2028 estimate of $170 billion. The firm views TPU as Broadcom’s premier artificial intelligence product offering.
Rakesh’s research team characterized investor anxiety regarding ASIC versus GPU market positioning and potential competition from MediaTek as “overblown,” advising clients to capitalize on recent AVGO share price weakness.
The analysts further noted that the optimistic scenario for TPU ASIC volumes in 2028, combined with OpenAI, MTIA, and ARM-based ASIC developments, presents favorable implications for memory manufacturers including Micron (MU) and Sandisk, as well as storage specialists Western Digital and Seagate.
Sandisk’s price-to-earnings multiple currently stands at 58.32x, substantially above its historical median of 29.61x, indicating the market’s willingness to pay a premium for anticipated future expansion. Corporate insider transactions over the previous three months reveal $8.9 million in stock sales, with no purchases reported during this period.
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