Chip Stock Investor Podcast

The CapEx holiday of the 2010s is officially over. After a decade of stagnant infrastructure investment, we’ve hit an inflection point with US manufacturing finally pulling out of a three-year slump. In January 2026, the PMI moved above 50%, signaling that customer orders are finally outpacing production—a leading indicator that the broader economy is heating up.<br>In this video, we move pa...

The software apocalypse continues to rattle the market, but AppLovin (APP) is currently operating like a financial "cheat code." Despite the recent stock dip, the core digital ad business is showing explosive growth, with Q1 2026 guidance projecting a 52% jump in revenue. Between the insane 84% adjusted EBITDA margins and the expansion of their Axon 2.0 AI algorithms, this business is co...

Astera Labs (ALAB) recently crushed earnings estimates and provided strong guidance for Q1 2026, yet the stock remains down. Why is the market hesitating?<br>In this video, we break down the Q4 financials for Astera Labs and preview what to expect from Credo Technology (CRDO). We discuss the competitive landscape regarding re-timers and AECs, but more importantly, we expose a significant red...

In April 2025, we made a strategic move to trim our Pinterest position and buy into Reddit. Now, two years into its life as a public company, we’re looking at the data: Can Reddit survive the AI software apocalypse and clear the high growth hurdle the market is pricing in? We break down Reddit’s 2025 year-end performance, including a staggering 70% year-over-year revenue growth. However, beneath t...

Is AI eating the software industry, or is it just making it more powerful?<br>In this episode, we sit down with Braden Dennis, CEO and co-founder of Fiscal.ai, to discuss the shift happening in enterprise SaaS. If you've watched our videos, you know we use Fiscal's charts every single day to analyze the markets, so it was great to get Braden’s perspective on where the industry is hea...

Tesla is embarking on a shift in business operations, and the implications for the semiconductor industry could be significant. In this video, we examine Tesla’s 2026 capital expenditure (CapEx) outlook through the lens of operating leverage.<br>With a projected $20 billion in CapEx for 2026—not including the proposed TeraFab, Tesla is moving further away from being just an automaker and clo...

Is it too late to buy the "Nvidia of Networking"? Lumentum (LITE) and Fabrinet (FN) have been on an absolute tear, with Lumentum up nearly 600% in the last year. Today, we break down why the AI data center build-out is shifting toward optical and silicon photonics—and which of these two companies is the better long-term play for your portfolio. In this video, we cover: -- The Supply Chain: How Lum...

We analyze Sandisk's remarkable NVIDIA moment, marked by a 1,000% stock price increase over the past year. Following its 2025 spin-off from Western Digital and the extension of its Flash Ventures partnership with Kioxia through 2034, Sandisk has capitalized on the memory shortage driven by AI data center demand. <br>Sandisk reported a significant revenue beat of over $3 billion and issue...

Memory shortages. It's all anyone wants to talk about. Lam Research's plays a pivotal role in addressing the ongoing memory chip shortage and for the AI and data center sectors. We explore Lam Research's position in the semiconductor supply chain, discuss recent financial performance, market share growth, and future revenue projections. Additionally, we analyze the company's strate...

Quantum computing is evolving fast, and IonQ just made a big move by proposing a $1.8 billion acquisition of SkyWater Technology (SKYT). In this video, we break down why IonQ is moving away from the fabless model to become a "vertically integrated, full-stack quantum platform".<br>We analyze the pro forma financials, the impact of SkyWater’s recent Infineon Fab 25 acquisition, and...

(STX) is seeing a resurgence thanks to the AI data center boom. Despite years of secular decline, Q2 2026 highlights show a 22% year-over-year revenue jump and the highest free cash flow in 8 years. In this video, we dive into the HAMR time transition, the Exos Mozaic 3+ platforms, and why supply is already booked through 2027.<br>Join us on Discord with Semiconductor Insider, sign up on our...

NVIDIA announced a major architecture shift in October 2025 that is set to ramp up in late 2026 and 2027: the move to High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC). As AI data centers demand more power, the current VAC (Volts Alternating Current) systems are less efficient than they could be.<br>In this video, we break down the basket of silicon providers NVIDIA has tapped to build this 800V DC future....

Intel has stabilized its balance sheet under CEO Lip-Bu Tan, using cash from the U.S. government and Nvidia to reach free cash flow profitability. However, achieving this required aggressive cuts to capital expenditures, creating a CapEx trap where Intel now lacks the manufacturing capacity to meet rising demand for its new designs. This supply constraint forced the company to issue weak Q1 2026 g...

Netflix is officially moving to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in an all-cash deal, but the market isn't celebrating. With the stock down over 30% from all-time highs, we break down the "prophetic" call to trim our positions and why the financials of this deal are creating a massive $3 billion headwind. Supercharge your analysis with AI! Get 15% of your membership with our special link here: https...

Software stocks have been left in the dust while hardware and semiconductor stocks (like Nvidia) have sucked the air out of the room. But after a brutal 5-year underperformance compared to hardware, is there finally value in the software sector?<br>In this episode, we are joined by Ryan Henderson of the Chit Chat Stocks Podcast and Fiscal.ai to break down the hardware decade and discuss wher...

Rambus (RMBS) has historically been known as an IP and patent powerhouse—but in 2026, the story has changed. With a massive memory chip shortage driving demand, Rambus is pivoting hard into becoming a fabless chip designer of memory interfaces. <br>In this video, Nick and Kasey break down exactly how Rambus fits into the electronics manufacturing supply chain today. We analyze their transiti...

We are finally revisiting Silicon Motion (SIMO), a small-cap semiconductor stock we’ve held onto during their poor performance. After sitting in value purgatory, the company is back in growth mode and they have dropped some not so subtle hints at their partnership with Nvidia. <br>In this video, we break down:<br>--What a NAND flash controller actually does and why IDMs (like Samsung a...

Is the semiconductor downcycle finally over for the auto and industrial markets?<br> While everyone is focused on AI data center infrastructure and the memory market, we are continuing to look for actual value in the market. In this video, we break down the latest signal from Microchip Technology (MCHP) that suggests the bottom is finally in for 2026 in the auto and industrial end market.&lt...

Memory shortages are all the rage in 2026. How should you play the AI data center supply crunch?<br>We discussed this back in 2025, and now it is here: Memory shortages are hitting the AI data center supply chain across the board. But is this an AI bubble, or just a normal cyclical growth cycle? In this video, we break down the entire memory hierarchy—from ultra-fast on-chip SRAM to HBM and...

CSI is analyzing the semiconductor manufacturing supply chain: TSMC, Amkor, and Aehr Test Systems.<br>Time to go back to our roots! In this episode, we’re breaking down the semiconductor manufacturing supply chain to see exactly how money is moving through the industry right now.<br>We are comparing three major players: the industry titan TSMC, the packaging specialist Amkor, and the s...

Automotive and robotics are converging in 2026, and in this update, we analyze the recovery trends and strategy for industry leaders Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Mobileye. We break down Nvidia's deeper push into automotive AI models despite its massive data center focus, and examine Qualcomm's automotive segment, which has now grown to nearly 10% of its total revenue. The major spotlight, however, is on...

Nvidia just kicked off 2026 with a full stack announcement at CES. From the new Vera Rubin architecture to the Bluefield-4 DPU, we're breaking down why Nvidia remains our top stock pick for the year.<br>As AI shifts from training to inference, Nvidia is evolving its hardware to solve the memory wall. Today, we look at the Bluefield-4 storage processor and how it integrates with the Nvidi...

It has been one full year since we last reviewed the state of quantum computing and named Google our top pick in the sector. In this episode of Chip Stock Investor, we revisit that thesis to see how Google stacks up against pure play competitors like IonQ, Rigetti, D-Wave, and Quantum Computing Inc. While Google shares gained 60% over the last twelve months, we analyze if the dedicated quantum com...

The AI supercycle is expanding beyond just GPUs. In our first episode of the 2026 series, we break down the critical infrastructure that acts as the "roads and freeways" for data: data center networking, optics, and silicon photonics.<br>Logic chips (like CPUs and GPUs) are the "office" where work gets done, but the network is the "commute" that moves that data....

Pure Storage just beat earnings guidance, but the market seems nervous about their new hyperscaler customer strategy?<br>In this video, we break down Pure Storage’s (PSTG) fiscal Q3 2026 earnings. The headline numbers look great with 16% revenue growth, but the transition to supporting massive customers like Meta is causing a spike in R&D spending and pressuring margins.<br>We anal...