Billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller Sells Sandisk and Buys an Unstoppable AI Energy Stock Up Over 800% Since Its IPO

Key Points

Sandisk stock has appreciated greatly thanks to enthusiasm around AI memory and storage chips.

While these chips are important for AI infrastructure buildouts, another quiet bottleneck has formed.

What AI data centers need now is sustainable power, and Bloom Energy offers scalable solutions.

• 10 stocks we like better than Sandisk ›

Stanley Druckenmiller has built one of the most respected investing records in modern history. After managing George Soros's Quantum Fund, Druckenmiller later formed his own investment powerhouse, the Duquesne Family Office.

Druckenmiller's expertise shines in an ability to spot quiet thematic changes early -- in currencies, commodities, or entire sectors. When a macro investor of his caliber sells one high-profile stock and rotates profits to buy another, retail investors should pay attention, because these moves often signal deeper structural shifts rather than short-term trading.

Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue »

Profiting from the artificial intelligence (AI) memory supercycle

In 2016, Sandisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) was acquired by Western Digital for $16 billion. However, Western Digital spun off Sandisk in February of last year, making it a stand-alone company.

Becoming an independent entity better positioned Sandisk's core flash business at just the right moment, because the AI boom has created an insatiable appetite for high-speed storage and memory. As hyperscalers scramble to feed massive training clusters, NAND and DRAM demand look like unstoppable tailwinds for Sandisk.

Yet, Druckenmiller exited his position -- selling 166,235 shares after holding Sandisk stock for just one quarter. While I do not know the exact dates of his buys and sells, Sandisk stock surged over 400% during the broader period in which Druckenmiller initiated his position. That's an incredibly abnormal return in such a short timeframe.

As a seasoned investor, Druckenmiller does not overstay a good story. By the time he dumped his position, Sandisk had turned into a full-blown momentum stock. Generally, when a stock witnesses this level of price appreciation so quickly, skeptics emerge with bear narratives. Sandisk is no exception here.

While the stock has remained a winner, some on Wall Street are parroting the ideas that demand for memory and storage chips is cyclical and companies like Sandisk could be at risk of supply gluts -- thereby eroding pricing power and a robust gross profit margin profile.

What Druckenmiller may have spotted is that the real constraint on AI expansion is shifting from silicon capacity to the electricity needed to run these processors. Selling into the momentum of the memory supercycle ultimately freed capital to rotate into the next bottleneck before the crowd saw it.

Energy and power are the newest AI bottlenecks

Based on his trading, Druckenmiller may have concluded that power -- not memory or raw compute -- is the binding constraint on AI infrastructure. After exiting Sandisk, Druckenmiller initiated a position in Bloom Energy (NYSE: BE) at his fund.

Bloom Energy builds solid-oxide fuel cells that turn natural gas into electricity. Unlike traditional backup generators or grid-tied power, Bloom's systems can be deployed quickly, scaled modularly, and run continuously. These features are exactly what AI data centers need when the power grid struggles to keep pace with graphics processing unit (GPU) clusters drawing as much electricity as an entire town.

In 2026 alone, the big five AI hyperscalers have announced plans to spend up to $720 billion on capital expenditures (capex), much of which will be allocated toward new data center capacity. Many of these projects can be stalled by interconnection queues and permitting delays. Fuel cells help sidestep this friction because they can be installed behind the meter – providing firm, dispatchable power that complements intermittent renewable sources and relieves pressure on aging transmissions.

Bloom has already secured meaningful footholds in the AI ecosystem. Several large developers, including Oracle, CoreWeave, and Equinix, have signed deals to test or deploy Bloom systems for both primary and backup power at new data center campuses. That's pleased investors, who have driven the stock up 0ver 800% since its 2018 initial public offering.

On the policy side, the Trump administration's emphasis on energy abundance and faster permitting creates a more visible runway for natural gas solutions that can be deployed quickly -- precisely the environment fuel-cell providers need to scale.

Druckenmiller's repositioning is smart

Was switching away from Sandisk to Bloom Energy a smart move? In my eyes, yes. Druckenmiller did not abandon the AI theme. Rather, he simply moved capital upstream to the part of the value chain that is both the most scarce and the hardest to fix quickly.

Indeed, memory will remain important, but sustainable power is the new choke point. By rotating into a company that directly addresses the energy pain point, Druckenmiller strategically positioned his fund for the next leg of the AI infrastructure era.

Everyday investors may not be able to replicate Druckenmiller's timing or position size, but they can adopt a similar discipline. First, it's important to scan for genuine bottlenecks rather than yesterday's winners. Second, look for the technologies that offer solutions with both speed and scalability.

Third, continue monitoring 13F filings of proven macro investors on a quarterly basis. This isn't meant to copy their moves unquestioningly, but more so to stress-test your own conviction. Finally, size your positions appropriately so that one correct thematic position can still matter without risking the performance of the whole portfolio.

Druckenmiller's trades are a reminder that the best investors do not simply ride momentum. They constantly anticipate where momentum will move next. In the AI age, the next wave may well be measured in megawatts, not just megabytes.

Should you buy stock in Sandisk right now?

Before you buy stock in Sandisk, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Sandisk wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $498,522! Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,276,807!

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 983% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 200% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.

**Stock Advisor returns as of April 27, 2026. *

Adam Spatacco has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bloom Energy, Equinix, Oracle, and Western Digital. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.