3. Fabs (manufacturing): $TSM, $UMC, $SMIC, Global Foundries
4/ Semiconductors are a unique global industry with the production and supply chain process spanning multiple countries
5/ Who are TSMC?
Estd. in 1987, TSMC pioneered the dedicated semi foundry business model, enabled fabless IC design industry to flourish and unleashed innovations
Foundry or Fab manufactures chips for fabless (design only) companies by focussing on better process tech
6/ Why TSMC?
Fabs are too expensive to build ($5 - $15bn), manufacturing chips is a very hard process and difficult to scale, so fabless firms are happy to hire TSMC.
TSMC, has tons of customers -> can spread its cost and continuously invest in tech
# Solid balance sheet with industry's highest credit rating
# FCF to fund organic growth
9/ Revenue by Technology (4Q 2020)
# 7nm bringing max revenue
# 5nm has the highest growth rate (bringing 2% revenues in just 2 quarters since the introduction)
# first fab to bring in 5nm technology in production
# planning to introduce 2nm in 2025
10/ Revenue by Platform (4Q 2020)
# Smartphone continues to dominate
# Main growth areas: HPC, Smartphone and IoT
# HPC - main growth driver
11/ Capital Expenditure
# 2021 Guidance: $25bn - $28bn vs. $17bn in 2020 (+47% - 65% yoy)
# announced plans to spend $100bn on new prod facilities and R&D over next 3 yrs. Decision was partially influenced by an increased competitive threat from Samsung.
The global hydrogen industry has reported $75 billion in committed capital. However, project delays are putting climate targets at risk.
The Hydrogen Council released its latest report, Hydrogen Insights 2024, which highlights:
1- Investment Growth:
Investments in hydrogen projects have increased from $10B in 2020 to $75B in 2024
2- Project Pipeline:
# of hydrogen projects has grown from 228 in 2020 to 1,572 in 2024. B/w 2020 and 2024, investments made in FEED stage projects increased by a 20X
3- Electrolysis Capacity:
Announced electrolysis capacity has reached 375GW by 2030, up from 305GW in previous report
4- Electrolyser Cost Reduction:
The cost of electrolysers is expected to decrease by 50% by 2030, driven by technological advancements and economies of scale
Microsoft has taken an unprecedented step in the world of artificial intelligence: they are set to purchase a 49% stake worth $10 billion in OpenAI, the parent company behind AI services provider ChatGPT.
With their investment, Microsoft would become part-owners of OpenAI with a 49% stake and the other 49% split between other investors. The OpenAI parent nonprofit graciously took 2%
With Microsoft's billion-dollar investment in 2019, OpenAI is now raising funds at a whopping $29B valuation and allowing early investors to cash out.
It doesn't stop there...
OpenAI is predicting hefty revenue of 1 Billion by 2024!
Buffett has done well on his ˜200m shares of $OXY most of which were purchased in Q1 2022. But he has also invested in a basket of Japanese commodity trading traders - sogo shosha or general trading companies
How well are these companies doing?
✨His two-year old bet on the five companies – known collectively as the sogo shosha, or general trading companies - has turned into gold, recently upping the wager by increasing his stake in each.
✨Today, Buffett is the third-biggest shareholder in Mitsui and a leading investor in its compatriots Mitsubishi Corp, Itochu Corp, Sumitomo Corp and Marubeni Corp
✨$MSFT infusion would be part of a complicated deal in which $MSFT would get 75% of OpenAI’s profits until it recoups its investment (It’s not clear whether money that OpenAI spends on Microsoft’s cloud-computing arm would count toward evening its account)
✨After that threshold is reached, it would revert to a structure that reflects ownership of OpenAI, with $MSFT having a 49% stake, other investors taking another 49% and OpenAI’s nonprofit parent getting 2%.
✨There’s also a profit cap that varies for each set of investors — unusual for venture deals, which investors hope might return 20 or 30 times their money. The terms and the investment amount could change, and the deal could fall apart.
Microsoft $MSFT putting $10 billion into OpenAI, the firm behind ChatGPT, is probably the biggest tech deal ever & a game changer for the future of Artificial Intelligence
2/4
At a $29 billion valuation, Microsoft would get 75% of OpenAI profits until it recoups $10 billion. Once they hit that threshold, they would have a 49% stake in OpenAI, with other investors taking another 49% and OpenAI's nonprofit parent getting 2%.
3/4
$MSFT also has a cloud deal with ChatGPT so as it runs more load $MSFT benefits
Also, by deepening the partnership with OpenAI to add GPT to the Microsoft Office suite Satya Nadella is in essence going to war with dozens of productivity startups globally.
Moderate Growth in Azure & higher energy costs in qtr hurt the GM of Azure
Guidance 1/8
1. Full-year outlook:
"We now expect a roughly five-point headwind to full-year revenue growth...At total company level, we continue to expect double-digit revenue and operating income growth on a constant currency basis"