Some of the Biggest AI Winners of 2025 Are Data Storage Stocks

Data storage stocks are racking up gains.

Shares of several data storage providers rallied Monday, extending a surge in recent weeks. A big reason? AI-driven demand that has sent tech-stock investors looking for opportunity in a range of segments that offer the potential for growth.

Western Digital (WDC) reportedly sent a letter to customers on Friday raising prices on its hard disk drives on the “unprecedented demand” it’s seeing in the AI era, pulled along by data-center growth. Shares of the hardware maker added almost 5% to close at a record high Monday.

So did those of Sandisk (SNDK), which has also reportedly raised prices for its flash memory products. Seagate (STX), another hard drive maker, jumped nearly 8% to an all-time high Monday. The stock has more than doubled in value in 2025, with its pop in the last few months propelling it to the top of the S&P 500’s best-performing stocks for the year so far as the company has rolled out massive drives for data centers.

Western Digital, which has also seen its stock double, is not far behind Seagate. Both are above AI software favorite Palantir (PLTR) in year-to-date performance.

Some gains have been booked in recent weeks. Data storage stocks have had a strong September, with Seagate and Western Digital both adding more than a quarter of their value this month alone. Pure Storage (PSTG) saw an over 40% gain since the company boosted its outlook in late August. Its stock added close to 6% to finish at a new high Monday as well.

Morgan Stanley analysts earlier this month called Western Digital a “top pick,” shifting from Seagate, citing meetings with management and its relative valuation—though they said further gains could continue for both stocks, with broader trends broadly favoring hard disk makers and demand outpacing limited supply. Wedbush has identified Western Digital as one of its “best ideas.”

Wall Street has been broadly bullish on the stocks, with a majority of analysts tracked by Visible Alpha issuing “buy” ratings for Seagate, Pure Storage, Western Digital and Sandisk. Several of them have blown past analysts’ mean targets with their recent gains.

This article has been updated since it was first published to include additional detail.