Track semiconductors, computing infrastructure and the technology cycle.
J.P. Morgan believes demand for AI power-supply testing is driving the existing business, while commercialization of the 8600 series could open up a larger market; inventory and working-capital pressures also affect the cash-flow quality of growth.
Yageo’s third-quarter gross margin rose to 41%, with shipments, prices and the share of AI products all improving. JPMorgan raised its earnings forecasts, but its growth model also relies on continued capacity expansion and broad-based price increases, while cash flow is expected to come under pressure in 2026.
JPMorgan says memory cost pressures are changing the pace of PC customer purchases. Meanwhile, cloud customers’ demand for server CPUs is strong, but component mismatches could lead to inventory adjustments in the second half of 2027.
BofA expects spending by major hyperscalers and emerging cloud providers to reach 1.35 trillion to 1.4 trillion dollars in 2027, about 20% above its forecast three months ago; financing costs, memory capacity expansion and demand in 2028 are important constraints in assessing the cycle.
Estun’s third-quarter revenue fell 11% year over year, below Morgan Stanley’s and market consensus estimates. Dropping low-margin orders drove profit growth, but a shift in product mix and a higher expense ratio limited the improvement.
PC inventory adjustments pushed Intel’s fourth-quarter guidance well below expectations, while its server business faces capacity constraints. Morgan Stanley is positive on the near-term server outlook but remains cautious about long-term competitiveness and returns on heavy investment.
CXMT’s third-quarter revenue and consolidated net profit both grew 19% quarter on quarter, but profit growth at subsidiaries in which it holds small stakes increased non-controlling interests’ share of earnings, leaving attributable net profit up only 3%. Morgan Stanley maintained its Overweight rating, citing capacity expansion and technology upgrades.
Strong third-quarter leasing and higher renewal rents prompted Digital Realty to raise its full-year guidance, but rising construction costs, large-scale development spending and potential equity issuance led Morgan Stanley to maintain its Equal-weight rating.
Revenue rose 83% year over year and operating profit exceeded the market consensus by 19%; the book-to-bill ratio rose further to 1.64, but higher component prices weighed on gross margin.
Early deliveries in the September quarter boosted shipments, but also temporarily paused growth in the December quarter. The timing and product mix of data center SSD deliveries will affect shipments and average selling prices in the following quarter.
In the third quarter of 2026, the company's revenue rose 17% quarter on quarter, while net profit fell 55%. Nomura believes high-priced battery cells, tax changes and overseas compliance costs will continue to constrain energy storage margins.
A higher share of lower-priced equipment held back revenue growth, while the number of equipment units accepted and the gross margin both improved. Nomura expects new orders to support 2027, while noting that third-quarter profit was boosted by fair-value gains.
Investment losses weighed on third-quarter net profit, but recurring net profit continued to grow. Nomura cut its earnings forecasts for the next three years and its Hong Kong share price target, while expecting AI platform upgrades to increase the value of high-end PCBs.
A higher AI PCB contribution and price increases pushed third-quarter gross margin to 36.6%. Nomura raised its earnings forecasts for the next three years, but cut its target price from 159 yuan to 91.6 yuan because of a lower valuation multiple.
J.P. Morgan believes the recent ramp-up of MediaTek’s data-center ASIC business and progress on its next-generation product are ahead of or in line with most investors’ expectations, but clear guidance on the scale of 2028 revenue is still lacking.
Evercore ISI expects NXP’s third- and fourth-quarter revenue in 2026 to exceed market consensus, but duplicate ordering, longer lead times and historical guidance performance also constrain growth expectations.
Evercore ISI believes Western Digital’s higher capital spending over the next two years will primarily support growth in capacity per drive and storage capacity shipments, rather than a substantial increase in the number of hard drives. Under the firm’s assumptions, the payback period is about three years.
Higher memory prices drove Samsung’s operating profit up 20% quarter on quarter in the third quarter of 2026. BofA raised its earnings forecasts for the following two years but cut its target price-to-earnings multiple from 9 times to 7 times. The bank sees SK Hynix as more attractive in the near term for DRAM growth and shareholder returns.
AI capital spending by four major technology companies continues to rise. Nomura calculates that their free cash flow in 2027 is highly sensitive to the pace of investment growth; meanwhile, the durability of memory makers’ earnings and their low valuations are reasons the bank favors the sector.
The company expects its AI and cloud business to grow by more than 70% in each of 2026 and 2027, but component shortages, data-center deployment delays and weak consumer electronics demand will affect the pace at which that growth materializes.
