SanDisk Jumps 11% as $96M in Short-Dated Call Options Hits AI, Memory Stocks

About $96 million in bullish options premiums flowed into four AI-linked semiconductor stocks on Friday, Sept. 18, 2026, with SanDisk (SNDKV) surging as much as 11% intraday during the session. Traders concentrated bets on Micron (MU), SanDisk, Intel (INTC) and Marvell (MRVL), according to ZeroHedge data. The Oct. 2 expiring calls included roughly 10,000 Micron contracts at a $1,000 strike ($44M premium), 4,200 SanDisk contracts at $1,600 ($41M), 20,000 Intel contracts at $115 ($7.3M) and 3,500 Marvell contracts at $250 ($3.85M). CNBC's Jim Cramer linked the trades to former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, whose AI-focused hedge fund Situational Awareness held about $5.7 billion in SanDisk and $5.6 billion in Micron as of June. With roughly two weeks to expiry, the positions carry high gamma and time-decay risk. Situational Awareness fell 67% in July 2026 before selling most holdings to Citadel. Aschenbrenner pledged to use fully paid options rather than leveraged total return swaps. His Q3 13F filing, due mid-November, may confirm the buyer.