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Super Micro posts revenue miss, issues strong guidance
Super Micro Computer missed sales estimates last quarter amid customer readiness issues, though its shares spiked 18% due to strong earnings guidance. Net sales were US$10.24 billion, up from $4.60 billion one year ago but under LSEG consensus estimates of $12.33 billion. Earnings per share were $0.84, rising from $0.31 and passing estimates of $0.62. “Supermicro's transformation into a total datacenter infrastructure provider is accelerating,” said CEO and president Charles Liang. “Our margin recovery and the rapid growth of our DCBBS [Data Center Building Block Solutions] business demonstrate that our business remains robust. With the addition of our new U.S. manufacturing facilities in Silicon Valley, we are exceptionally well-positioned to meet the massive demand for various AI and enterprise verticals.” Supermicro’s weaker-than-forecast sales were impacted by customers’ readiness issues, Liang said on an earnings call, as some sites had not yet installed the required power and networking capacity. The company expects to receive this revenue in the coming quarters. Income from operations was $625.87 million, soaring from $146.78 million one year ago. Operating expenses grew from $293.44 million to $392.81 millio
Hardware
AMD data centre revenue surges, shares spike 16.5%
Advanced Micro Devices beat estimates last quarter due to surging revenue from data centre products, with shares jumping 16.5%. Earnings per share were US$1.37, up from $0.96 and passing LSEG consensus estimates of $1.29. Revenue grew 38% to $10.25 billion, above estimates of $9.89 billion. “We delivered an outstanding first quarter, driven by accelerating demand for AI infrastructure, with Data Center now the primary driver of our revenue and earnings growth,” said AMD chair and CEO Lisa Su. “We are seeing strong momentum as inferencing and agentic AI drive increasing demand for high-performance CPUs and accelerators.” Revenue for its data centre segment surged 57% to $5.8 billion, which it credited to high demand for its Epyc microprocessors and Instinct chips. Its client and gaming segment’s revenue rose 23% to $3.6 billion. Client revenue grew 26%, driven by AMD’s Ryzen processors. For the second quarter, AMD projects revenue of $11.2 billion, plus or minus $300 million. This is well above estimates of $10.52 billion. The company is also set to launch its Helios system, a server rack for artificial intelligence data centres, in the year’s second half. Meta and OpenAI ordered Helios racks in recent months,
Hardware
Micron, Sandisk up, memory crisis to persist: analysts
Shares in memory chip companies Micron and Sandisk continued their rally after Melius Research analysts projected that memory demand could remain high through 2030. The prices of memory components have soared in recent months due to high demand from artificial intelligence companies. Melius’ two-year price target for Micron is US$1,350, with analyst Ben Reitzes saying its shares could rise a further 41% in the next year. "The market will eventually be willing to pay more for the unusual durability of the margin and demand profiles that AI makes possible,” wrote Reitzes. “We are only in the early innings of this AI cycle and the need for memory has never been stronger.” Melius’ price target for Sandisk is $700. Reitzes projected that its shares will rise a further 36% in the next 12 months. Memory prices rose by 80-90% in the first month of 2026, Counterpoint Research found. Manufacturers like Micron are increasingly re-routing production towards high-bandwidth memory chips, which are used to train AI models. Micron (NASDAQ: MU) shares are up 567.7% in the past 12 months, while Sandisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) shares have surged by 3,216.4%. Micron’s share price closed 5.6% higher at $524.56, and rose a further 0.3% afte
Hardware
Qualcomm to build chips for OpenAI smartphone: analyst
Qualcomm has reportedly agreed to build processors for a new OpenAI smartphone, briefly sending its shares up 7%. Semiconductor company MediaTek will also work with OpenAI and Qualcomm to develop the chip, according to TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. The phone will be co-designed by China-based Apple supplier Luxshare. “Only by fully controlling both the operating system and hardware can OpenAI deliver a comprehensive AI agent service,” wrote Kuo. “The smartphone is the only device that captures the user’s full real-time state, which is the most important input for real-time AI agent inference.” “Smartphone hardware is already highly mature, so OpenAI can work with the supply chain to develop the device. On the business model side, OpenAI may bundle subscriptions with hardware and build a new AI agent ecosystem with developers.” Mass production of the device is expected in 2028, according to Kuo. Specifications and suppliers for the processors would also be finalised by late 2026 or early 2027. Qualcomm and MediaTek could benefit from long-term replacement demand under the partnership, Kuo said. While the companies have not publicly confirmed these plans, OpenAI acquired former Apple design head
Hardware
TSMC profit soars but flags future hit amid Iran war
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. beat estimates last quarter as its profit surged 58%, but flagged a potential future hit from rising material costs amid the Iran war. Revenue was up 35.1% to NT$1.134 trillion (US$35.90 billion), above LSEG SmartEstimates of $1.127 trillion. Earnings per share soared 58.3% to $22.08 (US$3.49). “Our business in the first quarter was supported by strong demand for our leading-edge process technologies,” said senior VP and CFO Wendell Huang. “Moving into second quarter 2026, we expect our business to be supported by continued strong demand for our leading-edge process technologies.” The revenue and earnings beats come as TSMC has reportedly begun hiking prices on its advanced chips. It told clients that it would raise prices for these chips from 2026 through 2029, per Taiwanese outlet United Daily News. The company’s gross margin was 66.2% last quarter, increasing from 58.8% one year ago. TSMC credited this to cost improvement measures, higher capacity utilisation, and a favourable foreign exchange rate. Its operating margin was 58.1%, up from 48.5%. Advanced technologies represented 74% of its total wafer revenue, rising slightly from 73%. Shipments of 3-nanometre chips ac

Hardware
ASML earnings: Shares fall amid new China sales curbs
Semiconductor equipment supplier ASML beat earnings and revenue estimates last quarter, but shares fell amid newly-proposed export controls on chip sales to China. Net sales were EU€8.77 billion, up from €7.74 billion year-over-year and above LSEG consensus estimates of €8.5 billion. Net income was €2.76 billion, rising from €2.36 billion and surpassing estimates of €2.5 billion. “The semiconductor industry's growth outlook continues to solidify, driven by ongoing AI-related infrastructure investments. Demand for chips is outpacing supply,” said ASML president and CEO Christophe Fouquet. “In the past months, our customers have increased their expected short- and medium-term demand for our products. ASML's order intake continues to be very strong as a result, and we are closely aligned with our customers to support their demand in a combination of delivery of new systems and performance upgrades of their installed base.” ASML’s gross profit was €4.65 billion, compared with €4.18 billion one year ago. Its gross margin was 53%, down from 54%. The company sold 67 new lithography systems, which are used to manufacture chips, last quarter. This is a decline from 73 units one year ago, though the number of used lithography
Hardware
TSMC reports record revenue as price hikes start
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. reported record revenue last quarter as price increases on its advanced chips began to take effect. Revenue for the quarter ending in March was up 35% year-over-year to NT$1.13 trillion (US$35.6 billion), above LSEG consensus estimates of $1.13 trillion. This is at the upper end of the company’s guidance range for the quarter, which had projected revenue of US$34.6-35.8 billion. In March alone, TSMC’s revenue was $415.19 billion (US$13.1 billion), increasing 30.7% from February. The surge in revenue comes as TSMC reportedly raised prices on its advanced chips. It has told clients that it will hike prices for these chips from 2026 through 2029, Taiwanese outlet United Daily News reported in December. TSMC (TPE: 2330) shares are up 26.2% in 2026 to date. “This outperformance shows investors are becoming increasingly confident in Taiwan Semiconductor’s long-term story, even in a volatile market shaped by trade conflicts and geopolitical risks,” wrote Zacks analyst Anirudha Bhagat. The company’s full first-quarter earnings will be released on 16 April. Analysts expect earnings per share of US$3.29, rising from $2.12 year-over-year, per Zacks. TSMC’s Taiwan-listed shares close
Hardware
Broadcom to make chips for Google, compute for Anthropic
Broadcom will produce future generations of artificial intelligence chips for Google, the company said, and will provide Anthropic with computing capacity from Google’s processors. Broadcom will develop custom tensor processing units for Google, according to a securities filing. Anthropic will access 3.5 gigawatts of compute through Broadcom. “We have signed a new agreement with Google and Broadcom for multiple gigawatts of next-generation TPU capacity that we expect to come online starting in 2027. This significant expansion of our compute infrastructure will power our frontier Claude models and help us serve extraordinary demand from customers worldwide,” wrote Anthropic. “This groundbreaking partnership with Google and Broadcom is a continuation of our disciplined approach to scaling infrastructure: we are building the capacity necessary to serve the exponential growth we have seen in our customer base while also enabling Claude to define the frontier of AI development,” said Anthropic CFO Krishna Rao. Under the deal, Broadcom will also supply networking components for Google’s AI server racks until 2031. The companies did not disclose the financial terms of the agreement. Anthropic’s access to this computing cap
Hardware
Intel re-buys stake in Ireland plant, shares up 9%
Intel will repurchase a 49% stake in its Ireland manufacturing plant for US$14.2 billion (A$20.42 billion), sending shares up 9%. The company, which owns the remainder of the Fab 34 chipmaking plant, sold a 49% stake to Apollo Global Management for $11.2 billion in 2024. According to Intel, the purchase was driven by an improved balance sheet due to the increased use of its chips for artificial intelligence. “Our 2024 agreement was the right structure at the right time and provided Intel with meaningful flexibility, enabling us to accelerate critical initiatives,” said Intel CFO David Zinsner. “Today, we have a stronger balance sheet, improved financial discipline and an evolved business strategy. We appreciate Apollo’s continued collaboration to reach this outcome as we realign our capital structure with our long-term strategy.” The purchase will be funded by cash on hand and proceeds from the issuance of $6.5 billion in debt, Intel said. Intel’s revenue has been stabilising since the Fab 34 sale in 2024. Revenue that year fell by 2%, while in 2025 sales remained flat. Its free cash flow also rebounded to $2.22 billion, from a loss of $1.50 billion. Fab 34 produces processors, including the Intel Core Ultra a