Artificial intelligence (AI) may grab the headlines, but the quieter money in this cycle has been flowing into the infrastructure that keeps AI running. Models can only scale if data can be stored, accessed, protected, and moved efficiently. In 2025, that reality showed up clearly in market performance, as data storage emerged as one of the strongest themes tied to the global data center buildout.
Well-known names set the pace. Sandisk (SNDK) delivered a historic run, turning into the S&P 500 Index’s ($SPX) top performer of the year, while Western Digital (WDC) followed closely, benefiting from surging demand for high-capacity and enterprise-grade storage. As returns in mega-cap AI leaders began to normalize, investors started rotating toward the next layer of the trade, the “picks and shovels” behind hyperscaler spending.
