SanDisk's 780% Rally Flashes a Signal for Crypto Storage Tokens

SanDisk reported $5.95 billion in fiscal Q3 2026 revenue, up 97% sequentially and 251% year over year. The datacenter segment hit $1.467 billion, up 233% quarter over quarter and 645% year over year, according to the company's press release. The stock has rallied roughly 780% year to date and hit a 52-week high near $2,167 on June 16, the Guardian and TipRanks reported.

These numbers confirm a demand shock in AI storage. Hyperscalers are buying high-performance flash in volumes that market-watchers had not priced in. For decentralized storage networks, the read-through is direct: if cloud storage pricing stays tight and capacity remains constrained, alternative providers can gain share on cost and availability.

Filecoin and Storj, two tokens tied to decentralized storage, have already moved. Filecoin rose roughly 26.7% over the past 30 days, and Storj about 22.6%, CoinGecko data show. The gains followed Sandisk's report, though correlation does not prove causation.

The mechanism is straightforward. AI workloads at scale consume compute and storage most heavily. Bandwidth matters. Storage carries the cost burden. When a major supplier reports a 645% datacenter revenue jump, it signals that the storage bill is growing faster than anyone modeled. That creates room for providers who can offer equivalent or better economics for specific workloads.

Decentralized storage networks serve mostly archival and distribution use cases today – public datasets, model checkpoints, content-addressed logs. They are not competitive for hot-path training data where latency and locality dominate. As retrieval markets improve and caching layers roll out, the addressable set widens. The same dynamic holds for data availability layers used by rollups and appchains. They do not store files; they confirm transaction data exists and is retrievable. Blockspace demand growth pulls demand for DA, independent of Filecoin or Storj.

Traders watching the theme should focus on concrete signals rather than token price moves alone. Sustained on-chain data growth, paying customers, and retrieval performance metrics matter more than speculative volume. Cross-check any partnership announcement against on-chain usage data. Vague press releases without corresponding activity often lead to reversals.

Several risks could weaken the thesis. Cloud providers could cut storage pricing to defend market share, pressuring decentralized networks to differentiate on permanence, verifiability, or jurisdictional clarity. Token emissions schedules can swamp fundamental demand for months. Regulation around AI data provenance could favor verifiable storage or raise compliance overhead, depending on how it is written.

The next catalyst to watch is hyperscaler capex updates from Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. Their spending plans will indicate whether the storage demand surge continues or stabilizes. NAND and HDD supply commentary from memory makers will also signal pricing direction. If cloud storage remains tight, decentralized storage tokens have a structural tailwind. If it loosens, the trade depends on which projects solve real integration problems.

None of this guarantees that Filecoin or Storj will hold their gains. The sector is high-beta and idiosyncratic, with token mechanics that can override fundamentals. Small, staged allocations with tight risk controls are the standard approach. The data is new. The trend is real. The path from macro signal to token outperformance is never a straight line.