By Jared Blikre
Publication Date: 2026-05-08 20:42:00
Nvidia (NVDA) and Micron (MU) have become two of the defining stocks of the AI boom. But a come-from-behind trade in old-school storage has outrun both, with Western Digital (WDC) and Seagate Technology (STX) leading the charge.
Since ChatGPT launched in November 2022, Western Digital and Seagate have outperformed Nvidia and Micron, according to Yahoo Finance data.
The timing is key. The storage rally really took off in April 2025. Around the same time, Micron and the broader memory trade started to emerge as a central AI theme after the post-”Liberation Day” lows.
That’s not because storage and memory suddenly became sexier than GPUs. It’s because AI has turned the less glamorous parts of the hardware stack into scarcity trades.
The market is moving past the first AI winners and chasing companies tied to the physical demands of the infrastructure build-out: memory, storage, networking, foundry capacity, optical gear, and legacy chips.
The heat map tells the same story, with some of the biggest moves coming from names that were not the face of the AI trade even one year ago.
The catch-up trade is showing up across the chip complex. Intel (INTC) is up roughly 200% since the March 30 low and just hit its fourth straight intraday record high following a…
