Alex A.C.
Value/GARP Investor, Semiconductor & Financial Analysis, Electronics MEng
Semiconductors could capture scarce spot compute's value if its forward curve holds. Compute trades in deep contango, while chip stocks price in little of that value; near-term moves are unpredictable. That makes the sector very bullish. The earlier lab-funding risk looks less acute: Anthropic should hold nearly $200B cash after its IPO and is operating-cash-flow profitable. Even with 2029 capex cuts, chips look cheap if future buyers do not default. x.com x.com x.com x.com x.comÂ
Physical AI's reliance on semiconductors across its technology layers could make it the next theme to drive another rally in semiconductor stocks. Micron recently echoed this view. There is still much to learn about the field. x.comÂ
Semiconductor trade faces a capex growth ceiling even if AI delivers what bulls expect. Spending cannot compound at 70-100% a year indefinitely, and compute per dollar roughly doubles every two years, so the same budget buys more capacity later. Today's chip valuations also demand years of 20% AI earnings growth beyond 2028: roughly 10.9 extra years for AMD, 8.9 for ASML, 7 for Marvell and 6.4 for TSMC, versus 1.6 for Broadcom and 0.8 for Nvidia; Micron needs none under the chart's assumptions. … Show more
Semiconductors could stay undersupplied for a long time as more capable AI per dollar creates more uses and drives compute demand. Micron and NVIDIA trade at low forward P/Es because investors fear peak cyclical earnings, yet current earnings show no slowdown. Shortages may worsen as AI adoption spreads, though the industry could remain cyclical; a reversal of the forced rollover trade is hoped for, not assured. x.com x.com x.comÂ
Semiconductors will be much higher in 12 months if the market's real doubt is whether this cycle lasts another year. The cycle feels like the bottom of the third inning while the market prices a seventh-inning stretch, which is why so many chip names look like must-owns at these valuations. In order of preference: Nvidia, Credo, Astera Labs, Lumentum, Broadcom, TSMC, Coherent, Marvell, then SK hynix and Micron. x.comÂ
Semiconductors risk a telecom-style bust if AI capex merely flatlines rather than falls. Telecom investment did not decline after 2001; it stopped growing for 25 years, and investors took a bath as stocks priced for growth stalled and margins compressed. Today's $1 trillion-plus of annual investment rests largely on startups' projections of about 10x growth, and xAI and Meta already found less demand than expected. GPUs must run while they hold value, so no analogy is perfect. x.com x.com x.comÂ
Semiconductor stocks have not priced in a record wave of AI chip demand. Taiwan chip exports jumped over 20% in a single month and demand is 30% above three months earlier, the biggest in history, while Korea is also seeing record semiconductor demand, up 30% on mid-2026. A step change in demand comes while semis are still cheaper than before the AI boom. x.com x.com x.com x.comÂ
Semiconductors are more likely to go up than down from here at current valuations, since 2028 is probably a 20-30% capex growth year. AI capabilities and model revenue are ramping at an unprecedented pace and chip spending drives earnings growth for the whole market, while multiples stay reasonable on cyclical fears. The risk: model revenue added about $170 billion in 2026 against $780 billion of capex, and if capex flattens after an expected $1.1 trillion in 2027, multiples may stay low. x.comÂ
The semiconductor trade looks fragile because it now hinges on AI labs' growth. Semis sold off when Anthropic's month-over-month ARR growth decelerated, putting the market's fragility on full display, and that may be a sign of things to come. x.comÂ
Semiconductors are cyclical but not bad businesses, because duopolies and oligopolies across the industry earn cyclical super profits and keep growing. A pre-AI McKinsey study found semis have the largest excess profit over expected return on invested capital of any industry. Kuppy is wrong about capital intensity: the industry has shifted to fabless, the most capital-intensive business, TSMC, is a wonderful one, and equipment makers manage supply chains like Apple. x.comÂ