On Friday, storage-related stocks saw collective gains in premarket trading, with SanDisk Corp. (SNDK.US) rising over 3%, Micron Technology (MU.US) up more than 2%, and Western Digital (WDC.US) and Seagate Technology (STX.US) climbing over 1%.

The surge comes amid reports of worsening global shortages in memory chips due to soaring demand for AI infrastructure development. Several U.S. consumer electronics manufacturers have warned of potential price hikes for certain products this week.

Dell Technologies' COO noted during a Tuesday earnings call that the company has never seen costs rise so rapidly, citing shortages in some memory chips and possible price adjustments for select devices. Similarly, HP Inc.'s CEO stated that with chip inventories potentially depleting, profit margins could be squeezed by the second half of 2026, prompting necessary product price increases.

Research institutions predict memory chip prices could surge approximately 50% above current levels by Q2 2026 due to supply constraints.