Chip Stock Investor Podcast

Investing in the Next Memory Cycle: HBF, SanDisk, and the Fab Five

Mar 25, 2026
They dig into High-Bandwidth Flash and whether it competes with HBM or creates a new memory tier. The conversation covers BiCS 3D NAND, wafer bonding, and 16-chip stacks. They map where HBF sits in the memory hierarchy and debate timelines for samples and revenue. They also spotlight semiconductor supply-chain plays as indirect ways to benefit from the next memory cycle.
Ask episode
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
INSIGHT

Where NAND Flash Fits In The Memory Hierarchy

  • NAND flash sits in long-term non-volatile storage, trading capacity for lower speed compared with on-chip SRAM and DRAM.
  • Nicholas Rossolillo explains NAND replaces HDDs for high-capacity storage and fits at the far right of the memory hierarchy, behind HBM and DRAM.
INSIGHT

HBF Creates A New Intermediate Memory Tier

  • High-Bandwidth Flash (HBF) aims to sit between HBM and traditional NAND by increasing bandwidth while retaining much higher capacity than DRAM.
  • Casey and Nicholas frame HBF as an intermediate tier optimized to bring more data closer to GPUs for AI inference.
INSIGHT

How SanDisk Builds HBF Stacks

  • SanDisk and Kioxia use BiCS 3D NAND and CBA wafer bonding to build up to 16-chip HBF stacks with a logic die at the base.
  • Nicholas describes HBF stacks as pancake-like cubes co-packaged next to GPUs similar in form factor to HBM.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
Get the app