🔔 The Daily Semi-Cap — September 9, 2026
📊 SMH: $574.29 (+0.10%)
📈 Earnings:
• No new semiconductor earnings released today.
🔥 Major Developments:
• Apple unveiled the 2nm A20 Pro with 50% more memory bandwidth, a 6-core CPU, 7-core GPU, and dual 16-core Neural Engines delivering 2x the AI compute of A19 Pro. The chip powers the iPhone 18 Pro lineup and Apple's first foldable iPhone Duo.
• OpenAI said joint production and research with Samsung on its next-generation chips is among the most advanced areas of the companies' cooperation, expanding the relationship beyond enterprise AI services and previously announced memory supply.
• Kepler Computing emerged from seven years of stealth with $468M raised and a dedicated fab. Its EUV-free 3D ferroelectric AI memory targets SRAM-like bandwidth efficiency with up to 10x the capacity of SRAM and HBM; samples are due this year and production in 2027.
• Lumentum said the 2028 scale-up cycle could drive another 3-4x increase in laser demand and that the supply-demand gap is unlikely to close within the next couple of years, reinforcing optics as a persistent AI infrastructure bottleneck.