Sandisk Corp is pivoting to long-term supply agreements with data center customers as artificial intelligence demand reshapes the NAND flash market, CEO David Goeckeler said Wednesday at Bernstein's TMT Forum. The company is moving away from traditional quarterly pricing models to establish multi-year contracts that provide supply assurance as data centers become the largest consumers of NAND flash.

Goeckeler said data center sales grew 64% sequentially last quarter, with forecasts rising from mid-20% to mid-to-high 60% over two forecast cycles. Sandisk expects data centers to represent the largest NAND market segment in calendar 2026. The shift reflects hyperscalers' need for greater supply visibility as they expand infrastructure, with customers providing demand forecasts extending through 2028.

Customers willing to make longer-term commitments will receive priority allocation in tight supply environments, while those preferring quarterly negotiations may face limited availability, CFO Luis Visoso said. Sandisk maintains its investment plan for mid-to-high teens bit growth and expects to exit fiscal 2026 with BiCS8 as the predominant technology node. The company is also developing high-bandwidth flash technology with SK Hynix for AI inference workloads and extended its joint venture with Kioxia for another five years.