Chip Stock Investor Podcast

This educational video provides a detailed analysis on on the semiconductor supply chain, different companies within the chip market, and how these different companies make money. Chip Stock Investors Nick and Kasey discuss topics using their Semiconductor Industry Flow Chart, and provide insight to understanding how various semiconductor companies have competitive advantages that could make them...

Micron Technology (MU) provided an update to its current quarter’s financial guidance, indicating that growth in the PC and smartphone market is making a comeback after over a year of a terrible downturn. Micron’s expected rise in sales could bode well for this large part of the chip industry. However, Micron is still operating deep in the red, and the stock price rally this year is pricing in muc...

Broadcom (AVGO) has finally closed its acquisition of VMware (VMW) after a year-and-a-half since it was originally announced in May 2022. The newly combined company is a juggernaut in computing infrastructure and software, and a unique stock. The new Broadcom is almost a fifty-fifty split between semiconductors and cloud and enterprise software. But is Broadcom stock really a buy now that it owns...

Nvidia blew away expectations again in Q3 as AI sales to a new breed of data centers continues at a breakneck pace. Additionally, Nvidia seems to be also enjoying the start of a robust recovery for the PC market, as peers AMD and Intel also reported recently. Chip Stock Investors Nick and Kasey revamp their valuation with assumptions for the rest of this year, and an early look at what 2024 could...

It was a dramatic weekend in the high tech world. OpenAI fired its co-founder and CEO, Sam Altman, and the subsequent uprising has many scratching their heads over the generative AI app creator. Altman is now at Microsoft. Chip Stock Investor has a hunch and a few ideas as to why Microsoft may want Altman to stay in-house, and surprise(!), it may have to do with semiconductors! Reuters also threw...

Nvidia recently announced its newest GPU-powered system for AI training and inference, the H200. This will be the first using HBM3e (an updated version of third-generation high-bandwidth memory) integrated with Nvidia’s Hopper GPU chip architecture to deliver more data for AI training and inference.  Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang is clearly aware of coming competition, as he’s always been in the past,...

In this video, we will discuss Tesla's recent move into lithium refining and what it means for the company, and the electric vehicle industry as a whole. Tesla is investing in lithium refining with the new facility being built in Texas, in order to reduce its reliance on external suppliers and lower the cost of its electric vehicles. This is a smart move, as lithium is a key component of EV ba...

It’s been a rough earnings season for many stocks, and “next-gen” energy and fuel companies have been no exception. Leader in hydrogen and liquid natural gas Air Products and Chemicals (APD) continues its big spending spree on infrastructure for future growth, as has Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)(BRK.B). In the lithium market, Albemarle (ALB) once again adjusted its 2023 expectations...

Qualcomm is a mobile chipmaker and designer that has been trying to break into the laptop market for years. Apple has been a major player in laptops and made significant headway with the introduction of the M-series chip in 2020. Just recently, Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon X Elite laptop chips. The Snapdragon X Elite is based on Arm architecture and will give x86 chip makers Intel and AMD, an...

Fortinet (FTNT) stock tanked AGAIN on a miss in billings last quarter, and a less than rosy outlook through the first half of 2024 didn’t. Does that mean Chip Stock Investor is done with Fortinet stock, one of our top cybersecurity positions? Not necessarily. The company’s earnings call shed some light on the business strategy going forward that has stopped us from hitting the “sell” button. We wi...

Many stocks, especially large- and mega-caps, have performed incredibly well in 2023. It would seem the bear market is a distant memory. But that’s not the case for everyone. Many companies, especially smaller ones, are still down significantly from highs, and catching a fresh wave of pessimism from investors in recent weeks. Chip Stock Investor takes a break from semiconductors in this video to d...

The end of October served up a nasty shock to some semiconductor stock investors. As interest rates rise and electric vehicles (EVs) become less affordable to finance, some demand is weakening and throttling growth prospects. Onsemi (ON) confirmed as much in its Q3 2023 earnings update, sending its shares (and those of Aehr Test Systems (AEHR), which derives most of its revenue from Onsemi) down b...

Investors often talk about the beauty of software businesses being “infinitely scalable,” and why software stocks have greater potential than the “new oil” semiconductor industry. However, past results suggest something very different. The so-called commodity semiconductor industry is greatly outperforming software. Why? Is software really infinitely scalable? And are chips really the new oil? Chi...

In this episode of Chip Stock Investor, Nick and Kasey review another stellar quarter from EDA (electronic design automation) software company Cadence Design Systems (CDNS). Some headlines have suggested the company is suffering from a weak semiconductor industry, but nothing could be further from the truth. Cadence and its EDA peers benefit from increased R&D as chip and computing system desi...

Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) is one of our favorite “forever stocks” at Chip Stock Investor, best known for its Da Vinci robotic surgical system. The company's stock has been a strong performer over the long term, but it has recently come under pressure due to the growing popularity of GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1) weight-loss drugs like Ozempic. GLP-1s are also associated with a number of othe...

In this video, we discuss the latest earnings reports from Tesla (TSLA), Lam Research (LRCX), and Taiwan Semi (TSM), and what they mean for a possible end-of-year stock rally. Tesla's Q3 2023 earnings weren’t great, with revenue and deliveries below expectations. The EV price war is hurting, and even Elon Musk said Cybertruck production is going to hurt. However, the company is still on track...

ASML Holding is notching impressive growth in 2023, but management has now flagged 2024 as a "transition year." Customers still aren't making purchase orders, and it seems the company's most advanced EUV (extreme ultraviolet) lithography systems are experiencing sluggish adoption. Could this put ASML's aggressive financial targets for 2025 at risk? Chip Stock Investors Nick a...

ASML has a stranglehold (but not a total monopoly) on lithography equipment for semiconductor manufacturing. Japanese conglomerate Canon (CAJPY) is doubling down on competing advanced chipmaking equipment it originally acquired in 2014, and recently announced a new breakthrough it thinks could compete with ASML’s most advanced machines. Canon certainly wants to be more than a PR-driven player in t...

Aehr Test Systems is a hyper-growth small-cap stock, but its huge run up in the last year has sent the valuation sky-high. Investors are split on the merits of buying now. In light of this, CEO Gayn Erickson dropped some highly useful data regarding the EV industry during the last earnings update. Nick and Kasey discuss what they're doing regarding AEHR stock right now after selling for a tidy...

It’s been a wild couple of months, with plenty of bad news weighing down the stock market: rising interest rates, political discord and dysfunction, renewed calls for a coming recession, and war. But deals can still be found for investors with a long-term mindset, and oftentimes it’s easiest to find deals among common business names -- perhaps ones you already own. In this month’s “shallow dive” o...

In the last Chip Stock Investor video, we discussed two cheap small-cap chip stocks we're watching closely in the coming months. This time we're adding small chip manufacturer Tower Semiconductor (TSEM) to that list. Nick and Kasey discuss what has happened since Intel's (INTC) failed acquisition of Tower, why it could be a great value stock right now, and what will move them off the s...

Our last episode about ASML and the semiconductor lithography equipment market briefly discussed the photomask business Photronics (PLAB). Lithography is a critical step in semiconductor manufacturing, and it can’t be done without photomasks. That’s where Photronics comes in. It’s a small business with a sharp focus, and it’s profitable. Is it a good long-term buy? Chip Stock Investors Nick and Ka...

In our last video, we discussed the importance of ASML and the geopolitical risks (U.S. versus China) the company faces in the semiconductor landscape right now. ASML is a VERY important company in the industry, but is it the most important? ASML does rely on other company collaborators in order to provide the world with the most leading edge chips. Photomasks are an integral part of the manufactu...

ASML, the world's leading semiconductor lithography machine maker, faces serious geopolitical risks. Things could get even more complicated in 2024. In this video, Nick and Kasey discuss the biggest risk of all: new restrictions on the export of immersion DUV equipment to China, which could join the list of already restricted EUV equipment. These export restrictions, which will go into effect...

In this episode of Chip Stock Investor, Nick and Kasey first talk about their long-held Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) stock that may not sound like an exciting energy play. Indeed, Apple (AAPL) comprises nearly half of Warren Buffet's stock portfolio. However, Buffett's investment conglomerate has enjoyed ongoing growth, in part, driven by it’s subsidiary energy businesses -- including measur...