Who makes the chips, and the tools to make them?
The companies that design and make the chips the AI build runs on, and the machines, materials and software used to make them.
Variable 3: AI compute has split into a rented market and a government-funded one.
Spending on the AI build is running ahead of the revenue it produces.
Cloud revenue keeps pace with contracted backlog through the next two rounds of reports, and no other big buyer starts renting out spare capacity.
The summer sell-offs on beat-and-raise reports are the market paying less for earnings, not the businesses failing. They reverse when the price of money stops rising.
At the late-October to mid-November prints, companies that beat and raise keep falling while companies that miss hold. That would say the market is pricing the businesses, not the money.
Reports next, in this group
| Company | What it sells | Reports next |
|---|---|---|
| ASE Technology ASX |
ASE Technology packages and tests semiconductor chips for other companies. | 29 Oct · expected, per Nasdaq |
| Air Products APD |
Air Products sells industrial gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen, plus the equipment that produces them, supplying basic inputs that chipmakers and data centres need. | 5 Nov · expected, per Nasdaq |
| Amkor AMKR |
Amkor provides chip packaging and testing services that connect silicon dies to circuit boards. | 26 Oct · expected, per Nasdaq |
| Astera Labs ALAB |
Astera Labs designs chips and connectivity hardware that move data quickly between processors, memory and servers in AI data centres. | 3 Nov · expected, per Nasdaq |
| Broadcom AVGO |
Broadcom designs custom AI accelerator chips and high-speed networking silicon that link processors together. | 10 Dec · expected, per Nasdaq |
| Credo Tech CRDO |
Credo Technology makes high-speed chips and cables that move data between servers and processors. | 7 Dec · expected, per Nasdaq |
| Entegris ENTG |
Entegris makes specialty chemicals, materials and filtration products that chipmakers use to build semiconductors. | 29 Oct · expected, per Nasdaq |
| KLA KLAC |
KLA makes inspection and metrology tools that check semiconductor wafers for defects during manufacturing. | 4 Nov · expected, per Nasdaq |
| Lam Research LRCX |
Lam Research makes the machines chipmakers use to etch and deposit the microscopic layers that form semiconductors. | 21 Oct · expected, per Nasdaq |
| Linde LIN |
Linde supplies industrial gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and argon, plus the ultra-pure gases chipmakers use. | 29 Oct · expected, per Nasdaq |
| Lumentum LITE |
Lumentum makes lasers and optical components that move data between servers and data centres. | 5 Nov · expected, per Nasdaq |
| Marvell MRVL |
Marvell designs custom chips and networking silicon that link and power data-center servers. | 1 Dec · expected, per Nasdaq |
| Micron MU |
Micron makes memory and storage chips, including the high-speed DRAM and flash that feed processors. | not yet announced |
| TSMC TSM |
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company makes advanced chips designed by other firms. | not yet announced |
Who builds and equips the data centers? · Who supplies the power? · Who supplies the rebuilding of defense?