Dan Nystedt

Most of AMD and NVIDIA’s best 10x engineers are in Shanghai. AMD’s MoRI collective team, AMD’s disaggregated applications engineering team, and other AMD teams that understand how to do first-principles-based engineering are all mostly based in Shanghai.

Samsung Electronics has started shipping next-gen HBM4e memory chip samples to clients, media report, 12-layer high-bandwidth memory 4e. The new chip offers more than a 20% speed increase over HBM4, was made using Samsung’s 1c DRAM manufacturing technology, and holds a logic base-die made with Samsung Foundry 4nm. $HXSCL $SSNLF $MU #Samsung #SKhynix #semiconductors #HBM

Rumor: Nvidia plans to invest NT$20 billion (US$620 million) for a stake in Taiwan ABF substrate supplier Kinsus Interconnect, media report. $NVDA #Kinsus

MediaTek and Qualcomm are major threats in custom ASIC chips because they can secure precious cutting-edge node and advanced packaging capacity, in addition to managing the complex supply chain, media report, adding the surge in new ASIC orders shows the capacity shortage will not end soon. Big ASIC designers, Broadcom, Marvell, Alchip, GUC, tip ASIC revenue to double within 2-3 years, explosive growth. When high memory chip prices crushed smartphone volumes early this year, the silver lining was it opened capacity for MediaTek, Qualcomm to use for their ASIC businesses. $TSM $INTC $QCOM $AVGO $MRVL #MediaTek #Alchip #GUC

Samsung Electronics Eyed for Anthropic Chip Order… Foundry Revival Begins Samsung Electronics has made an investment in Anthropic, the U.S. AI company behind the AI model "Claude," raising the possibility of a foundry partnership in which Samsung would manufacture Anthropic's chips on a contract basis. Samsung's foundry business, which has run at a loss for several years, has recently landed a string of major global customers, fueling growing expectations for a return to profitability next year. On the 28th (local time), Anthropic announced that it had raised $65 billion in its recent Series H funding round, with its post-money valuation assessed at $965 billion (about 1,440 trillion won). The three major memory semiconductor manufacturers—Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron—participated in this funding round as "strategic infrastructure partners." Anthropic emphasized that "the technologies of these companies play a critical role in the global supply of memory, storage, and logic chips," adding that "partnerships with them will be a great help in reliably scaling computing capacity to meet customer needs." Anthropic's mention of "logic chips" in its announcement has prompted speculation about a foundry partnership with Samsung Electronics. The process of manufacturing logic chips is foundry work, and aside from Samsung Electronics, neither Micron nor SK Hynix has a foundry division. For this reason, the industry analyzes that Samsung Electronics and Anthropic will newly collaborate not just at the memory level but also in foundry. This implies a high likelihood that Samsung Electronics will produce the AI chips used in Anthropic's flagship model "Claude." Anthropic, alongside OpenAI, is regarded as one of the world's leading AI model companies and a core AI player. The prevailing view is that Samsung's foundry has secured yet another major customer, following Tesla, NVIDIA, and others. Earlier, Samsung Electronics won orders for Tesla's next-generation AI chips, "AI5" and "AI6." Samsung's foundry is also handling production of an upgraded version of "AI4." NVIDIA's inference-dedicated language processing unit (LPU) chip "Grok3" is likewise being produced through Samsung's foundry. Samsung Electronics also plans to supply the image sensor to be mounted in Apple's new iPhone next year. Accordingly, attention is focused on whether Samsung Electronics' foundry business—which has run at a loss in recent years—can regain its vitality. As of last year, Samsung Electronics held second place (7.2%) in the global foundry market, but the gap with first-place TSMC (69.9%) reaches 62.7 percentage points. Regarding Samsung's investment in Anthropic, the industry views it as strategic cooperation spanning "AI semiconductors, memory, foundry, and AI infrastructure." Samsung Electronics is positioning a "one-stop solution"—encompassing high-bandwidth memory (HBM), advanced foundry processes, and advanced packaging—as its differentiation point. As the AI market evolves into an ecosystem centered not only on HBM supply but also AI chip design, production, packaging, and system optimization, the move is interpreted as Samsung strengthening partnerships by leveraging its competitiveness across the semiconductor spectrum. A semiconductor industry official said, "Samsung's investment is not a simple equity stake in an AI company, but is interpreted as a signal that Samsung is earnestly expanding strategic relationships with the key players of the AI era," adding, "Expectations are growing as to whether Samsung's foundry business can seize another opportunity amid the expansion of the AI market."

$NVDA Trillion Dollar Dinner in Taipei (supply chain)

Dell's revenue just exploded. "We’re increasing our AI server revenue expectations for FY27 to $60B, which only goes to show the AI opportunity shows no signs of slowing.” $DELL +16% after hours

Nikon to take on ASML with low-priced chipmaking equipment: CEO

Bruh, according to Geekerwan’s TEM analysis, Samsung’s 2026 SF2 still lags slightly behind Intel’s 2025 18A in terms of geometry control and process consistency. $INTC

Marvell QApr26 - Revenue up 9% q/q and 28% y/y to $2.418B at 58.9% non-GAAP GM; QJul guided up 12% q/q - F27 (C26) revenue raised to $11.5B (40% y/y), up from $11B at QJan26 and $10B at QOct25 - Expects to hit $3B quarterly run-rate in Q3F27, one full quarter ahead of prior outlook; Q3 and Q4 each grow at least 10% q/q - F28 (C27) revenue raised to $16.5B (45% y/y), $1.5B raise vs $15B at QJan26

Graviton is the best server CPU ever built on the ARM platform AWS also offers them at a discount price compared to x86 instances

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang called Taiwan “the epicenter of the AI revolution” during his trip here, adding Nvidia will soon spend US$150 billion a year buying supplies from Taiwan, up from around $100 billion now and $10-$15 billion a few years ago. Key Quotes Below: "Vera Rubin is the largest product launch, probably in the history of Taiwan. Each one of the Vera Rubin systems consists of almost 2 million parts, and it includes 150 different ecosystem partners here in Taiwan to build it." “The second half of this year is going to be very, very busy with Grace Blackwell, Vera Rubin, and we have a surprise new product that we haven’t told anyone about yet.” “Taiwan has grown significantly over the years…Many years ago we had 10 partners, and then five-years ago maybe 50 partners. Now we have 150 partners, and so it’s good that we celebrate our ecosystem.” "Four years ago, five years ago, Nvidia was spending about $10, $15 billion dollars a year in Taiwan. Now we're spending $100, going to $150 billion dollars in Taiwan each year."-Reuters "Taiwan is the epicenter of the AI revolution. This is where the chips come, packaging comes, this is where the systems are made, this is where AI supercomputers were created. The number of partners we work with here in Taiwan, incredible."-Reuters Nvidia’s Blog and X feed are doing a great job updating his Taiwan trip whereabouts, meetings and more: Blog: https:// blogs.nvidia.com/blog/nvidia-gt c-taipei-computex-2026-news/ … X feed: https:// x.com/nvidianewsroom $NVDA $TSM #Foxconn #Quanta #Wistron https:// reuters.com/world/asia-pac ific/nvidia-ceo-says-taiwan-is-epicentre-ai-revolution-2026-05-27/ … https:// cna.com.tw/news/afe/20260 5270113.aspx … https:// ec.ltn.com.tw/article/breaki ngnews/5452074 … https:// ctee.com.tw/news/202605277 00807-430502 … https:// money.udn.com/money/story/56 12/9529933?from=edn_subcatelist_cate … https:// money.udn.com/money/story/56 12/9529993?from=edn_subcatelist_cate …

Major Taiwan CCL manufacturers Elite Material and ITEQ said they will expand capacity amid soaring demand related to AI, with visibility extending to end-2028, media report, adding AI chips, 800G/1.6T network switches, LEO, and cloud infrastructure are all driving demand for the material used in circuit boards. Demand for high-end materials remains in short supply, and EMC noted high end boards used in AI servers have soared past 80-layers, driving demand for high-speed materials. ITEQ will double capacity for high-end products in 2026. CCL: Copper Clad Laminate

ABF substrate supplier Kinsus Interconnect said order visibility now extends to 2029, media report, adding it finalized a 3-year capex plan at NT$23.5 billion (US$750M), including NT$8 billion this year, the majority for ABF substrate production, due to the strong AI trend. $NVDA $AMD $INTC #Kinsus #Unimicron #NanYaPCB #Ibiden #ShinkoElectric #Ajinomoto https:// ctee.com.tw/news/202605287 00255-439901 …

ABF substrate price hikes sent Unimicron’s April EPS soaring 4,725% to NT$1.85, media report, while April revenue rose 28% year-on-year to NT$13.9 billion, and net profit rose 4,387% to NT$2.8 billion. Strong demand for ABF substrates, used in a range of high end AI chip packages (GPU, TPU, ASIC), has led to a series of price hikes this year and fully booked capacity at Unimicron. $NVDA $AMD $INTC #Unimicron #NanYaPCB #Kinsus #Ibiden #ShinkoElectric #Ajinomoto

UMC and Intel will have their jointly developed 12nm FinFET process in mass production in 2027 at Intel Arizona, media report, adding UMC sees a stronger 2nd half 2026 via price hikes on some processes, new orders, due to rising materials costs, while 2027 is likely to see price hikes across the board. $UMC $INTC #VIS #PSMC #HuaHong #semiconductors

Rumor: Qualcomm is in talks with a US cloud giant on a custom ASIC project, in addition to the ByteDance project already revealed, DigiTimes reports, adding it has confirmed "more than one" ASIC project. ByteDance is expected to be a big client, millions of units, but questions remain if the deal faces US restrictions on China. $QCOM $TSM #ByteDance #semiconductors

Abstract of MediaTek (2454 TT) - Note - New ASIC likely SpaceX •Target Price raised to NT$5,520 •Massive ASIC revenue ramp projected:
$2.2bn (2026) → $18bn (2027) → $48bn (2028) •Likely SpaceX Win for new datacenter ASIC. We expect MTK to be the design service provider for xAI’s datacenter ASIC based on Intel 14A + EMIB-T. Volume production late-2028, ramp in 2029 with robust volume. •Zebrafish CoWoS upgraded:
Capacity raised to 180k (from 160k) in 2027. ASP hiked to $5.5k (from $4.5k) → implies $17.8bn datacenter ASIC revenue in 2027E (well above guidance & consensus) •Strong TPU momentum:
Competitor’s PumaFish cancelled → MTK first mover to 2nm (Humufish). High confidence in successor chip (Helios Next) with strong EMIB yields (in out note, we highlighted EMIB has started trials for testing for major current AI chips. #Mediatek #TPU #SpaceX #Intel

Nvidia’s first big batch of Rubin chips will finish (final packaging) in July-August and start being delivered to system assembly partners, media report, citing unnamed supply chain sources. TSMC began manufacturing the initial batch in late-March-early April, reaching monthly wafer starts of 40-50,000wpm in the 2nd quarter, and expects to be in mass production in the 3rd quarter. The cycle time from wafer start to final CoWoS package is about 4-months. $NVDA $TSM $ASX #KYEC #SPIL #Unimicron #Kinsus #Winway #MPI

TSMC employee bonuses for the 1st quarter rose 30% year-on-year, on average, media report, citing an internal memo sent company-wide by CEO C.C. Wei. Rumored bonus cuts had caused some friction inside the chip giant – already officially denied. Wei will host a meeting today (Wednesday 5/27) to answer questions to address any lingering doubts. He emailed all employees to say 1st quarter bonuses will be paid on May 29, and the internal online system will open early today so employees can check bonus details. TSMC pays 2 different bonuses across a 2-year cycle, a quarterly bonus based on individual performance and company performance, and a profit-sharing bonus paid the following year, meant to keep people at TSMC. $TSM #semiconductors

TSMC plans to hike 3nm prices as much as 15% in the 2nd half 2026 due to surging demand for AI accelerators, media report, adding additional hikes of 5%-10% may follow in 2027. The report cites unnamed supply chain sources. $TSM $NVDA $AVGO $GOOGL $AMZN #semiconductors

ASIC chip revenue may double in 2027, then double again in 2028 for custom chip designers like Broadcom, MediaTek, Alchip, Global Unichip, media report, as demand from several major Cloud firms, including Google and Amazon, continues to rise and TSMC’s capacity shortage continues to ease. The Google TPU is expected to contribute a far higher amount to Broadcom and MediaTek in 2027-2028 vs now, with shipments of MediaTek’s 2nm TPU project in 2028 seen up nearly twofold – so long as it can get TSMC capacity/Intel EMIB. Alchip’s chairman described TSMC’s 3nm capacity shortage as worse than the memory shortage. After 2027, the capacity bottleneck is seen easing. $TSM $INTC $AVGO $GOOGL $AMZN #MediaTek #Alchip #GlobalUnichip #GUC #semiconductors

BREAKING: Elon Musk has reportedly discussed possibly folding Tesla, $TSLA , and SpaceX together, per CNBC

Ahead of COMPUTEX, the two most important CEOs on the planet right now Jensen Huang and TSMC CEO C.C. Wei, having dinner together and celebrating decades long partnership FYI, $NVDA accounted for 20% of $TSMC revenue $40B dollars and they don’t have a a single legal agreement

Ahead of COMPUTEX, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang joined TSMC executives, including Chairman and CEO C.C. Wei, for dinner at 36Kitchen, celebrating a decades-long partnership at the heart of the AI era.

JUST IN: Micron $MU just crossed over a $1 Trillion market cap for the FIRST TIME EVER

AI server maker Wiwynn plans to build at least 3 more plants in the United States as customer demand at its new US facilities is “beyond anything we imagined”, media report, citing Chair Emily Hong. Wiwynn hopes to continue winning orders from US cloud giants for AI infrastructure projects. Hong reportedly said Wiwynn initially worried an expansion at its Texas facility might hurt demand from a Mexico plant, but instead clients asked for more capacity, and the Mexico plant remained fully utilized. The company’s capex this year is expected to be significantly higher than the NT$13 billion last year. $AMZN $GOOGL $AVGO $META $MSFT #semiconductors #AIserver

Component shortages have gotten so bad that upstream suppliers (GPU, CPU) now ensure AI server makers have every part needed before shipping product to them “to avoid wasting bullets”, media report, as bottlenecks now include CPUs, memory, storage, high-end PCBs, power management (PMIC) chips, passive components like MLCCs (Multi-Layer Ceramic Capacitors), more. The article cites Wiwynn Chair Emily Hong saying “Right now, the AI industry doesn’t just lack power, it lacks people, capital – and most of all, materials.” Wiwynn now holds historic high NT$230 billion inventory as it works to match components. $NVDA $INTC $AMD $AMZN $GOOGL #semiconductors #servers

ASML plans to hire 1,000 more people in Taiwan this year, up from a plan for 600, and adding to the 4,700 employees already here, media report, noting around 10% of all ASML employees are in Taiwan. ASML is offering grads w/Masters’ degrees NT$2 million (€54,700 or US$63,500) annual salaries, work from home, flexible hours, other incentives. $ASML #semiconductors #Taiwan

Taiwan prosecutors have charged an engineer from Broadcom subsidiary, Avago Technologies Taiwan Ltd., of leaking trade secrets, including client orders, client R&D timelines, product revenue forecasts, notes from executive meetings, media report, adding he allegedly received NT$2.98 million (US$95,000) in speaking fees by giving 85 presentations in one year as a “Broadcom Expert.” $AVGO $GOOGL $META $MSFT #ByteDance

GlobalWafers, the 3rd biggest silicon wafer maker behind Japan’s Shin-Etsu and SUMCO, said demand for 12-inch wafers has fully recovered thanks to AI, and it is in talks with customers over 2nd half price hikes to offset rising costs, depreciation, media report, citing Chair Doris Hsu. She also said 12-inch square silicon wafers have been sent to clients for verification and hopes to be in mass production in the 4th quarter. (18-inch ingots pulled, cut into 310x310mm square wafers). $TSM $ASX #GlobalWafers #ShinEtsu #SUMCO $4063 $3436

TSMC’s employee bonuses will exceed last year’s and will continue to rise ‘along with the company’s steady development’, the chip giant reportedly said Monday, amid growing discontent from rumors that bonuses would be cut 15%, causing some workers to threaten to strike like Samsung’s union, media report. $TSM $SSNLF #Samsung #semiconductors #semiconductor

Rumor: Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan will arrive in Taiwan this weekend ahead of Computex Taipei (6/2-5) to meet key supply chain partners, including TSMC, and host a cocktail party June 1 for partners Intel has worked with for decades, media report, then June 2 will meet with key executives from AI server/PC giants Quanta, Wistron, Inventec, Compal, Pegatron, ASUS, others, to discuss CPUs, server/PC outlook, strategy, more. $INTC $TSM #Quanta #Wistron #Compal #Pegatron #ASUS #semiconductors

Big claims, but no major technical breakthrough detailed here. Great marketing and a warning to TSMC, Samsung to make sure Huawei hasn't tricked them into manufacturing advanced chips again. $TSM $SSNLF

Nanya Technology expects 2026 capex to “surge past” the NT$52 billion guidance provided earlier as it continues to develop new products and production technologies, media report, including (products) 16Gb DDR5 validation, LPDDR5 pilot production, (production) 1c, 1d, 1e process advancement. $MU $SSNLF $HXSCL $LRCX $KLAC #semiconductors #semiconductor

TSMC’s R&D spending will top US$10 billion for the first time this year as it expands its 2nm process family and continues advancing Angstrom nodes, significantly outpacing chip foundry rivals Samsung and Intel, media report. $TSM $INTC $SSNLF #Samsung #semiconductors

TSMC is expected to report record high revenue in May exceeding NT$420 billion, as market pundits believe Taiwan’s May export orders of US$91.1 billion and Nvidia’s 2nd quarter revenue outlook ($81.1B-$92.8B) portend good fortune for TSMC, Nvidia’s main chip foundry partner. $TSM $NVDA #semiconductors

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang arrived in Taipei Saturday (5/23) to meet with supply chain partners and deliver speeches ahead of the Computex Taipei 2026 trade show (6/2-5), media report, noting he dined with TSMC founder Morris Chang Sunday and plans to meet suppliers, including Quanta Computer Chair Barry Lam and Vice Chair C.C. Leung Monday (5/25). His plans this week include meeting TSMC Chair C.C. Wei on Tuesday (5/26), Taipei City Govt 5/27 and the ‘Trillion Dollar Banquet’ with supply chain partners on Thursday (5/28). He reportedly said ‘Taiwan supply chain partners will be incredibly busy in the 2nd half of this year’ because each Vera Rubin system holds nearly 2 million components and requires coordination across 100 - 150 suppliers. $TSM $ASX $NVDA #semiconductors

AMD targets advanced packaging, substrates and rack systems with its US$10 billion investment in Taiwan, media report, adding AMD CEO Lisa Su told a Taipei forum that demand for AI infrastructure is entering a new wave of expansion. Tight supplies for a range of materials

AMD CEO Lisa Su was asked about rumors AMD may tap Intel for CPU production, responding that she’s highly satisfied with TSMC, ‘an outstanding partner’ – that’s consistently worked to meet AMD’s needs. She said rapidly growing demand for CPUs is a key reason she’s in Taiwan

AMD ramping up Taiwan capacity as global CPU market tightens -

My Korean friend says the subtle flex in the dating market right now is wearing an SK Hynix jacket to your first date. My Taiwanese friend says he is wearing TSMC shoes to his reunion. Wonder if I can buy both on Taobao and wear them for morning jog at East Coast Park.

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan sat down with CNBC’s Jim Cramer to talk about Apple; Intel 14A rivaling TSMC's top chip production technology; Shortages of CPUs and substrates; and the state of Intel's turnaround. How to know when Intel signs Apple or other foundry customers: Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan: “Over time, the IP will be ready so we can serve some of these customers. I think the best indication, when you see I increase my capex, I’m putting money to buy equipment, that means I have real customers. That’s the discipline I have.” Intel 14A manufacturing process and EMIB-T advanced packaging: Intel CEO: “(A14) is 1.4nm, this is the most advanced. To be candid with you, in 2028 we will have risk production. 2029 will be volume production. It will be the same time as TSMC. So that is a major, major breakthrough, and I’m so excited. And we already have multiple customers engaged with us, and we have 0.5 PDK available.” Taking advantage of TSMC’s CoWoS shortage Intel CEO: “Our technology is called EMIB-T, this is the next generation of advanced packaging. We really have the best technology and now we are making sure we can bring it into volume production with reliable yield so the customer can count on us.” CEO: “You know, CoWoS…(TSMC) ran out of capacity, so in a way we’ve become in the unique position to support that and that’s something we are very excited (about).” Shortages of CPUs and Substrates CEO on the CPU shortage: “I’ll give you one example. I had one customer say Lip Bu, we gave you the forecast for this year, but we want to increase 3x, and I say I cannot do it overnight but give me a few quarters and I will catch up. So, I think this demand is not short term, it’s the next couple of years. It’s a great opportunity.” CEO: “Right now, as I mentioned, CPU is in high demand. And that’s good for me. I cannot even ship enough to the customer. It used to be the CPU to GPU ratio for training was 1-to-8. And now, because of inference and agentic AI, and more agents you have to manage, and orchestration, and reinforced learning, CPU is actually better, so that becomes 1-to-4 and 1-to-1 and some people even talk about 4-to1, and so that’s a huge opportunity to me to drive the CPU....” CEO on Substrates: “A couple of customers have prepaid for substrates, because the substrate supply chain is very tight – so I need to put up the money to secure this material…(and it shows) the commitment to me – so that’s very exciting.” Intel’s Turnaround CEO: “We used to have leadership in data center, and over the years we lost it…We made some big mistakes,” he said, adding he’s brought back some talent to refocus the product lines and that “Coral Rapids will have multi-threading, and will come out very strong.” CEO: “When I took over, the 18A yield was not good, so I had to ask some of the ecosystem partners to help me look at the data, see how to improve. The best practice is to see 7% or 8% yield improvement per month, and now I’m seeing it.” CEO: “The other part is supposed to be the yield performance, defect density, you know at the end of the year to see the target. Now I see that even before the end of the year – so that is very big encouragement for me and also that’s why Panther Lake can be shipped in volume now. And now some customers knock on my door and say Lip Bu, now we hear you are making great progress, can you now open up to outside customers? So that is very exciting. It’s a lot of hard work, it’s a lot of teamwork, it’s a lot of talent I’ve brought on board.” CEO: “In the past we made a lot of mistakes and now we correct the mistake and we’ve simplified the roadmap. By the way, from Day 1 I came on board as the CEO, I have all the engineers report to me so I have an understanding, hear from the customer, and know where are the mistakes.” Cramer: “They didn’t report to the previous CEO?” CEO: “No. And in a way, they had too many silos, too many people reporting…So I decided, the best thing is to really understand where the problem is, so I can focus on the engineering, how to redesign, simplify the product and then get the real killer products out.” Cramer asks about China, Taiwan and the importance of US manufacturing: CEO: “I was very glad for President Trump understanding the strategic importance for the United States to have (chip manufacturing supply chain) and their support is so valuable to me – it’s so critical for the country to have the technology, R&D development, manufacturing in the United States. That’s why I came back in, as a U.S. citizen – as a calling – to do that.” CEO: “From time to time I update President Trump and also (Sec.) Howard Lutnick and they are big supporters of me and we are delighted to have their support.” Going forward: CEO: “I recruited some key talent…and now, by the end of June, I will have my team, what I consider my team, so that we can work on the next 5-years, 10-years, how to become a different company. I call it the New Intel, work at the speed of light, work as a team to progress forward.” $INTC $TSM #Samsung $UMC $GFS #semiconductors