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Chips, equipment and servers

The chip designers, contract chipmakers, toolmakers and server builders that turn AI spending into hardware.

Updated

Information and analysis only, not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security. The author may own securities discussed.

Researched and drafted with AI agents. Every figure is taken from a source cited on the page.

Analysis and information

What this theme is

This theme follows the hardware chain behind AI data centers. NVIDIA and Broadcom design the AI accelerators and the networking chips. TSMC and GlobalFoundries make chips that other companies design. ASML and Applied Materials supply the tools that chip factories use. Celestica builds the networking and compute systems that go into data centers.

What we're seeing

  • 2026-10-28: Alphabet's Q3 purchases of property and equipment were $51.4B, up from $24.0B a year earlier. Google Cloud revenue rose 103%, and Alphabet said TPU systems sales contributed meaningfully.
  • 2026-10-28: NVIDIA set its fiscal Q3 results call for 2026-11-17.
  • 2026-10-27: NVIDIA and Oracle said Oracle's superclusters will grow to multi-gigawatt scale with Vera Rubin systems.
  • 2026-10-26: Broadcom disclosed a new residual value backstop on AI rack leases, with a maximum potential liability of about $43B. It had disclosed an earlier backstop of about $29B in September.
  • 2026-10-26: Celestica gave a first 2027 outlook of $40.0B in revenue, up 90%, after Q3 revenue rose 83%. It cut its 2026 free cash flow outlook to $460M to fund working capital.
  • 2026-10-26: Applied Materials agreed to raise its stake in Besi, a maker of chip assembly equipment, to about 20%.
  • 2026-10-22: Lam Research said near-term supply chain constraints limited its guidance. The PHLX Semiconductor Index fell more than 6% that day.
  • 2026-10-21: NVIDIA said it plans to raise substrate capacity for its products 2.5 times over three years. It gave test firm KYEC a $1.1B capacity reservation advance.
  • 2026-10-16: Taiwan's economy minister said AI servers and advanced chips will be added to Taiwan's export control list. He gave no start date.
  • 2026-10-15: TSMC's Q3 revenue rose 41% to $46.72B. It expects about 44% revenue growth in 2026 and kept its 2026 capital budget at $60B to $64B.
  • 2026-10-14: ASML said its planned supply for 2027 and 2028 will not fully meet customer demand.
  • 2026-10-14: GlobalFoundries was picked to run two new New York fabs funded by up to $21B from Japan. The US Commerce Department will receive about 4% of GF's equity.

What to watch

  • NVIDIA's fiscal Q3 results on 2026-11-17, against its $108.0B revenue guide.
  • Supply limits. Watch ASML's 2028 capacity plans, the substrate and packaging build-outs, and Lam's supply chain constraints.
  • Chip designers backing customer leases. NVIDIA's lease guaranties for an Ohio campus are capped at $105B. Broadcom has disclosed backstops with maximums of about $29B and about $43B.
  • Taiwan's export control rules and when they start.
  • Reports ahead: GlobalFoundries on 2026-11-04, Applied Materials on 2026-11-12 and NVIDIA on 2026-11-17, all confirmed by the companies.

The peers

  • TSM makes leading-edge chips for other companies. TSMC
  • ASML makes lithography systems for chipmakers. ASML
  • GFS makes specialty chips and is adding US fabs. GlobalFoundries
  • CLS builds networking and compute systems for data centers. Celestica
  • NVDA designs AI GPUs and rack-scale systems. NVIDIA
  • AVGO designs custom AI accelerators and networking chips. Broadcom
  • AMAT makes chipmaking equipment. Applied Materials

Companies in this theme

Sources

Primary means the publisher of the data or the filing; secondary means press or an aggregator.