Four tech stocks with more potential than cryptocurrencies in 2026

Cryptocurrencies are often marketed around the possibility of outsized gains, but they also come with extreme volatility. Unlike stocks—where trading can be halted if prices move too quickly—crypto markets do not have comparable circuit breakers, leaving investors exposed to sharp downside moves driven by sentiment and speculation.

Against that backdrop, some investors prefer equities with clearer market structure and established safeguards. Here are four S&P 500 companies highlighted for strong performance going into 2026, each tied to demand linked to data centers and artificial intelligence.

Sandisk: data storage momentum and AI-linked demand

Sandisk (SNDK) is the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 year to date, returning nearly 200%. The company has been shaped by corporate moves—acquired by Western Digital in 2016 and later spun off again in 2023.

Sandisk sells flash products, solid-state drives (SSDs), memory cards, and USB drives. A key driver is the data center end market, where its SSDs support AI, machine learning, and other high-capacity storage workloads. Management said data center revenue in the second quarter of fiscal 2026 (ending Jan. 2) rose 64% sequentially.

In the most recent quarter, overall revenue was $3.02 billion, up 61% year over year.

Lumentum Holdings: optical components for AI networks

Lumentum Holdings (LITE) ranks No. 2 on the list of best year-to-date returns in the S&P 500, with a gain of 118%. The company makes optical components for fiber-optic networks designed to handle AI workloads in cloud and data center interconnect (DCI) environments, as well as industrial lasers used for sensing and precision manufacturing.

Lumentum is also expanding capacity, announcing plans to build a 240,000-square-foot facility in North Carolina to manufacture optical devices for AI data centers.

For Q2 of fiscal 2026 (ending Dec. 27, 2025), Lumentum reported revenue of $665.5 million, up 65% from a year earlier. The company guided for third-quarter revenue of $780 million to $830 million.

Ciena: adaptive networking and AI-driven automation

Ciena (CIEN) is up more than 85% in 2026. The Maryland-based company provides adaptive networking systems, including hardware and software, aimed at managing AI workloads and supporting growth in bandwidth demand.

Its data center offerings include hyper-rail photonics, designed to move more data while using less power and space, and AI-driven network automation. This includes AI agents intended to support routing and validation to improve efficiency.

In the first quarter of fiscal 2026 (ending Jan. 31), Ciena reported sales of $1.43 billion, up 33% year over year. CEO Gary Smith said the quarter was driven by “focused execution” and “unprecedented, broad-based demand” as customers look to monetize their AI investments.

Seagate Technology: storage demand tied to AI data centers

Seagate Technology (STX) is a data storage company providing hard disk drives and SSDs for both consumers and high-capacity data centers. The stock is up more than 50% so far this year, with expectations that momentum can continue as companies spend hundreds of billions of dollars on AI data centers.

In Q2 2026 (ending Jan. 2), Seagate reported revenue of $2.83 billion, up 22% year over year. Data center revenue rose 31% to $2.2 billion. For Q3 2026, management guided revenue of $2.9 billion, up 34% from the prior year.

CFO Gianluca Romano said the company expects “sequential improvement to both the top and bottom line throughout calendar 2026,” based on its current outlook.