Is the "super bull market" for storage not over yet? SanDisk returns to previous highs after being shorted by Citron, while Korea's storage giants hit record stock prices

Glonghui, February 26｜According to Economic Observer, amid the super cycle in the storage chip industry that has triggered a major bull market, well-known short-selling institution Citron Research suddenly shorted the US storage giant SanDisk. Citron stated that the current tight supply in storage is only a temporary phenomenon, and once major manufacturers improve yields and release capacity, the supply-demand pattern could be completely reversed in a single earnings call. After Citron's report was released on the 24th, SanDisk's stock price immediately came under pressure, hitting an intraday low of $612.92 (down about 8% from the previous close), and finally closed at $638.52, down 4.20%. However, just two trading days later, the impact of Citron's short-selling report on SanDisk seemed to have dissipated. As of around 5:00 p.m. (GMT+8) on February 26, during US pre-market trading, SanDisk's stock price once climbed to $665, almost back to its pre-short-selling level.As SanDisk's stock price rebounded, Korea's "storage twins" Samsung and SK Hynix also both hit record highs. On February 26, Samsung Electronics closed at 218,000 KRW, up 7.13% for the day, setting new all-time highs for several consecutive days, with its market capitalization surpassing $1 trillion (about 1.3 trillion KRW). SK Hynix closed at 1,099,000 KRW, up 7.96% for the day, also setting a new record high and continuing its recent strong upward momentum. Recently, Citigroup raised its 2026 forecast, increasing the expected average selling price increase for DRAM from 53% to 88%, and for NAND from 44% to 74%, stating that the market has entered a phase of "runaway price increases" and a "fierce seller's market," with pricing power in the hands of giants such as Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron, and SanDisk. Meanwhile, AI infrastructure investment (training + inference) is causing demand growth to far outpace supply, capacity expansion is limited, and shortages are expected to persist throughout 2026.