Samsung Foundry has raised chip manufacturing prices up to 15% amid a spike in demand, Reuters reports. -Samsung's SF4 (4nm) node prices rose 10%-15% in July, over June, for US & China clients. -The SF4 line at its Pyeongtaek plant has been full since late last year. -Demand from China particularly strong $SSNLF $TSM $INTC #Samsung# #semiconductors#

According to Korean media reports, Samsung is collaborating not only with Samsung Foundry but also with TSMC on custom HBM base dies, depending on customer requirements. When TSMC manufactures the base die for Samsung Electronics' HBM, the related chip design and optimization support is understood to be handled by Samsung Electronics' Memory Business Division. The in house System LSI Business Division will design products only for Samsung Electronics' foundry. Meanwhile, Korean media explained that Samsung Electronics' dual sourcing of custom HBM base dies is interpreted as a strategy to avoid isolation from a supply chain perspective. TSMC has currently built a solid supply chain with Nvidia and other global big tech companies through its own foundry and packaging processes, and customer preference for it is high in terms of stability and performance. Under these circumstances, if Samsung Electronics insists solely on its own foundry turnkey (end to end production) model, the likelihood of failing to meet customers' diverse customized demands grows.

Chris Patrick, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Mobile Handsets at Qualcomm, said in an interview with the press that "Qualcomm maintains close partnerships not only with TSMC but also with Samsung Foundry, and we are doing quite a lot of in depth work related to Samsung's 2nm process technology." He added, "We are currently at the stage of understanding and evaluating how Samsung's 2nm technology could be applied to our future products," and said that "Samsung Foundry has long been a key partner for Qualcomm and will remain an important partner going forward." $QCOM

$NVTS JUST ACQUIRED CLAROS NVTS is now one of the only pure-play AI power companies spanning the entire stack: grid → rack → board → package → silicon Claros was the final piece: power delivery directly integrated into the xPU. - 2030 market opportunity DOUBLES to $8B+ - Already designing for an unnamed xPU customer - Samsung Foundry signed on for US production Power is the next battleground for AI. $NVTS now has the technology, product stack, and scale to win it. Market seems to agree: +2.3% overnight. Position: $55K $NVTX (2x $NVTS)

Cleveland on $AVGO: Demand still eclipses supply 6-12 months. Units capped by TSMC. ASP / package complexity on next-gen TPU, MTIA, Jalapeno, 1.6T is the upside they are not baking in from Samsung foundry.

Wow, great news for $NBIS: $NVDA's Groq 3 LPX inference rack has now entered full production, with $NBIS becoming the first neocloud to adopt. For Nebius' Vera Rubin NVL72 Token Factory. I think Nvidia / Jensen must really like Nebius to use them as the launch venue... (Also a win for Samsung Foundry for the memory coverage.)

I'm glad the leverage bros moved from AI stocks back to Hyerliquid and biotech like $MRNA, so maybe we'll see a faster recovery. Aside from that just some TLDR stuff: - $EWY up, primarily from SK Hynix buybacks (they're just too profitable), and Samsung Foundry roughly ~10-15% price hikes. - $SKHY unveils CPO roadmap?? Apparently they're doing something with photonic interposer that links to memory, so I gotta look a bit deeper into this Probably going to be more TAM expansion, more supply chain beneficiaries (eg. lasers, PICs, packaging) off this. - $YMTC pursuing IPO next quarter following CMXT's successful IPO. The Chinese IPO market is just going brrr from Unitree to memory makers. US needs to do something similar rather than IPOing companies at trillion dollar valuations already. - Tyntek limit up there's now order visibility through 2028, given photodiode demand imbalance for photonics. Elazr GM did say the entire optical supply chain was facing major shortages... I'll probably look more at high-end PD bottlenecks next. - MS forecasts a 50% Q/Q price increase for DDR4 for Q3, and 10%+ increase for Q4 2026. (Nanya/2408, Windbond/2344, should be happy). - China reportedly delays clearance from germanium, quartz-based materials, and neodymium magnets To taiwan. So I'll probably have some fun looking into supply chains disruptions there over cup noodles. - High-end PCB drill shortage (still ongoing), Kawei (5498) said AI DCs, servers and optical communications are driving demand for PCBs, HDI and package substrates, while tungsten prices are rising. Though the world's five largest drill manufacturers are aggressively expanding capacity, supply remains far below overall market demand Just stuff I found interesting recently, obviously $MRNA stuff is too.