Podcast
Chip Stock Investor Podcast
Hosted by Nicholas Rossolillo; Kasey Rossolillo · EN
Semiconductors are the heart of the modern economy. These small devices that manipulate the flow of electricity run everything from our PCs and smartphones to our cars to manufacturing. The semiconductor industry is at an inflection point of renewed growth, powering new movements like generative AI and electric vehicles.
The Chip Stock Investor Podcast explores how semiconductors work, and especially the business of chips. Follow Nicholas and Kasey to learn how chip technology has become the engine of the world, and how to invest in its growth.
84episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
SanDisk (SNDK) Crashed 40% — Buy the Dip or Falling Knife?
Yesterday00:14:00Tap to summarizeSanDisk (SNDK) fell from $2,000 to $1,200 as memory stocks sold off hard — but is the panic justified? In this episode, Chip Stock Investor breaks down what the fundamentals actually say before you react to the crash.We cover SanDisk's Q1 fiscal 2027 guidance — still 300–400% year-over-year revenue growth, but decelerating — the guide to roughly $45 in adjusted EPS, and why a debt-free balance sheet plus $4.5 billion in buybacks points to a healthy pivot toward shareholder returns. Then we dig into the technology roadmap: High Bandwidth Flash (HBF) and the new SanDisk/SK hynix spec for Google and Tenstorrent. We also unpack SanDisk's equity investment in Nanya Technology and the strategy behind bringing DRAM supply in-house, away from NAND competitors.Finally, we get into the real reasons memory stocks are crashing — institutional rebalancing, leveraged unwinds, the semiconductor cycle, and rising competition from Yangtze Memory and Solidigm — and whether SNDK is a falling knife or a long-term opportunity.Semi Insider members get access to CSI's research platform and tools plus deeper research as it happens. Join at chipstockinvestor.comContent in this video is for general information or entertainment only and is not specific or individual investment advice. Forecasts and information presented may not develop as predicted and there is no guarantee any strategies presented will be successful. All investing involves risk, and you could lose some or all of your principal.CSI owns shares of Sandisk
Transcribe →Palantir Q2 2026: What's Really Driving 149% Growth
3d ago00:07:51Tap to summarizePalantir just reported Q2 2026 earnings, and the headline number, revenue nearly doubling year over year, only tells part of the story. We go beyond the standard quarterly earnings review to unpack what's actually driving Palantir's acceleration: AIP, its AI platform built to help enterprises deploy AI without handing proprietary data to the large AI labs. We look at the data behind the deployment phase of the AI cycle, why US commercial customer revenue jumped 149 percent even as customer count grew far more slowly, and what nearly 220 million dollar-plus deals signal about enterprise demand. We also run a reverse discounted cash flow on Palantir's current valuation, walk through management's own eighteen month growth targets, and revisit the ethical and government contract concerns we flagged when we first covered this stock two years ago. This is a research-backed look at whether Palantir's AIP business justifies its valuation, and whether it belongs in a long-term semiconductor and AI-adjacent portfolio. Semi Insider members get access to Chip Stock Investor's research platform and tools plus deeper research as it happens. Join at chipstockinvestor.com.Content in this video is for general information or entertainment only and is not specific or individual investment advice. Forecasts and information presented may not develop as predicted, and there is no guarantee any strategies presented will be successful. All investing involves risk, and you could lose some or all of your principal. Chip Stock Investor does not own shares of Palantir.
Transcribe →Rocket Lab's 8 Billion Dollar Bid for Iridium
4d ago00:21:22Tap to summarizeRocket Lab has proposed acquiring Iridium Communications in an eight billion dollar deal combining new stock issuance and cash. We break down why this move pushes Rocket Lab toward becoming a fully vertically integrated space economy company, spanning satellite components, spacecraft manufacturing, launch services through Electron and the upcoming Neutron rocket, and now satellite-based communications through Iridium's L-band constellation. We walk through our updated investment thesis checklist, Q1 2026 earnings showing revenue up 63 percent year over year, and the combined pro forma financials: roughly one point six billion dollars in trailing twelve month revenue, a swing from negative to near breakeven EBITDA, and Iridium's 288 million dollars in free cash flow offsetting Rocket Lab's cash burn. We also cover the balance sheet impact of Rocket Lab moving from net cash to net debt, and run a reverse discounted cash flow to solve for the growth rate the market is currently pricing in at roughly a 50 billion dollar enterprise value. Is Rocket Lab stock a buy after the sell-off, or still priced for perfection? We share where we stand. Semi Insider members get access to Chip Stock Investor's research platform and tools plus deeper research as it happens. Join at chipstockinvestor.com.Content in this video is for general information or entertainment only and is not specific or individual investment advice. Forecasts and information presented may not develop as predicted, and there is no guarantee any strategies presented will be successful. All investing involves risk, and you could lose some or all of your principal. Chip Stock Investor does not own shares of Rocket Lab.
Transcribe →Alphabet Earnings: The Conglomerate Discount Explained
5d ago00:13:19Tap to summarizeAlphabet Q2 2026 earnings show a company with two different stories depending on where you look, and we break down the conglomerate discount hiding in the balance sheet. Google Cloud revenue jumped to over 24 billion dollars for the quarter, up 80 percent year over year, with operating income approaching nine billion dollars, now over 20 percent of Alphabet's total operating income. Trailing twelve month GAAP operating profit has grown faster than revenue, driven by Search and Cloud strength. But capital expenditures are changing the picture fast. Alphabet's 2026 capex guidance now sits near 200 billion dollars as part of the broader hyperscaler AI infrastructure buildout, pushing quarterly free cash flow negative for the first time in this cycle. We go beyond the headline numbers to explain why data transparency issues around Alphabet's variable interest entities, equity derivatives, and credit derivatives make the balance sheet harder to analyze than it looks. We also cover Alphabet's forward valuation and the semiconductor read through from continued AI infrastructure spending. Semi Insider members get access to Chip Stock Investor's research platform and tools plus deeper research as it happens. Join at chipstockinvestor.com.Chip Stock Investor and/or its hosts currently hold a position in Alphabet stock. Nothing in this content is financial advice; do your own research before making investment decisions.
Transcribe →$900B in AI CapEx, $1.5T Coming in 2027 — Is the Semiconductor Cycle Still Intact?
1w ago00:15:17Tap to summarizeNearly $580 billion in trailing twelve-month capital expenditure across Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Meta, Oracle, Tesla, and SpaceX. Full year 2026 approaching $900 billion. CSI's 2027 estimate: $1.5 trillion. CSI breaks down the Q2 hyperscaler CapEx numbers and makes the case for why the semiconductor bull market remains intact despite a volatile few weeks for chip stocks.AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and Oracle are all reporting multi-year backlogs. Amazon just raised its 2026 CapEx guide to $220 billion, partly driven by rising memory prices — sending more capital directly to the semiconductor supply chain. Gartner revised data center spending up to $820 billion for 2026, a sixty-three percent year-over-year increase. The recent pullback looks like a leverage unwind, not a fundamental shift.For in-depth research and the Semiconductor Insider membership, visit chipstockinvestor.com. Use fiscal.ai/csi for 15% off any paid plan.Content in this video is for general information or entertainment only and is not specific or individual investment advice. Forecasts and information presented may not develop as predicted and there is no guarantee any strategies presented will be successful. All investing involves risk, and you could lose some or all of your principal.CSI owns shares of Meta, Alphabet, Oracle, and Amazon.
Transcribe →Seagate (STX): HDDs Roar Back on AI Storage Demand
1w ago00:11:44Tap to summarizeSeagate's latest results show hard disk drives making a real comeback as NAND and SSD prices rise and hyperscalers turn to HDDs for flexible, massive AI storage capacity. CSI breaks down a quarter where exabyte shipments grew 34% year over year, with 90% going to data centers, data center revenue up 57% to $2.9 billion, and total revenue up 48%.The conversation covers Seagate's broad shipments of Mozaic 3, the ramp of 40TB-plus Mozaic 4 with the two largest global cloud service providers, and plans for Mozaic 5 qualification shipments in late 2027. We also dig into how Seagate plans to grow without expanding manufacturing capacity, using vertically integrated HAMR technology to increase terabytes per drive, and how that strategy is driving profitability, debt reduction, buybacks, and dividend support.Finally, we look at guidance for Q1 FY2027, which implies revenue of roughly $4.1 billion, about 36% year-over-year growth at the midpoint, and what that means for the broader memory cycle story heading into 2027.Semi Insider members get access to CSI's research platform and tools, plus deeper research as it happens. Join at chipstockinvestor.com.Get 15% off your fiscal.ai membership with our link: fiscal.ai/csiThis content is for general information or entertainment only and is not specific or individual investment advice. Forecasts may not develop as predicted, and there is no guarantee any strategy discussed will be successful. All investing involves risk, including loss of principal. CSI owns shares of Seagate.
Transcribe →ServiceNow (NOW): Down 60%, But Now a Cybersecurity Player
2w ago00:16:18Tap to summarizeServiceNow has been hammered in the software selloff, but our Q2 2026 earnings breakdown reveals a business quietly repositioning itself for the AI edge. CEO Bill McDermott and CFO Gina Mastantuono delivered 25% year-over-year revenue growth, accelerating subscription guidance, and two strategic acquisitions, Veza and Armis, that push ServiceNow into identity, access, and device-level cybersecurity. We break down why McDermott calls this the fastest-growing risk and security business among the top 10 enterprise cybersecurity players, and why the market still treats ServiceNow like an AI-era loser rather than an edge-AI beneficiary.The conversation covers GAAP versus non-GAAP metrics, including a 55% decline in GAAP operating income, balance sheet strength post-acquisitions, full-year subscription revenue guidance near $16 billion, and a reverse DCF on free cash flow per share to gauge what the current stock price is actually pricing in. We also compare ServiceNow's cybersecurity revenue against pure-play peers like Palo Alto Networks, CrowdStrike, and Fortinet using data from our research dashboard.If you're evaluating semiconductor and AI infrastructure stocks, foundry exposure, or non-correlated edge-AI plays for portfolio diversification, this ServiceNow deep dive lays out both the bull case and the real risks.Semi Insider members get access to CSI's research platform and tools, plus deeper research as it happens. Join at chipstockinvestor.com.Get 15% off your fiscal.ai membership with our link: fiscal.ai/csiThis content is for general information or entertainment only and is not specific or individual investment advice. Forecasts may not develop as predicted, and there is no guarantee any strategy discussed will be successful. All investing involves risk, including loss of principal. CSI owns shares of ServiceNow.
Transcribe →Honeywell Technologies (HON): Buy After the Breakup?
2w ago00:15:46Tap to summarizeHoneywell has completed its long-awaited breakup, separating Honeywell Aerospace from the newly focused Honeywell Technologies. CSI walks through Honeywell's Q2 2026 earnings report, covering the building automation, process automation, and industrial automation segments, and explains why organic sales growth alone doesn't tell the full story: the real story is what's happening to margins.The conversation digs into the recently closed Johnson Matthey Catalyst Technologies acquisition, the LNG equipment business driving process automation orders, and the divestitures of Honeywell's productivity solutions and warehouse and workflow segments. It also covers the balance sheet, including nearly $34 billion in total debt offset by asset sale proceeds, and Honeywell's 47% remaining equity stake in newly public quantum computing company Quantinuum.Finally, CSI runs Honeywell Technologies stock through a reverse discounted cash flow model using updated adjusted EPS guidance to estimate fair value, and discusses what would make this semiconductor-adjacent industrial and energy transition stock a stronger buy. If you're a long-term fundamental investor tracking the semiconductor supply chain, AI infrastructure spending, and the industrial automation cycle, this breakdown is for you.Semi Insider members get access to CSI's research platform and tools, plus deeper research as it happens. Join at chipstockinvestor.com.Get 15% off your fiscal.ai membership with our link: fiscal.ai/csiThis content is for general information or entertainment only and is not specific or individual investment advice. Forecasts may not develop as predicted, and there is no guarantee any strategy discussed will be successful. All investing involves risk, including loss of principal. CSI owns shares of Honeywell.
Transcribe →Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) Stock Down 40%: Buy the Dip?
2w ago00:17:24Tap to summarizeIntuitive Surgical posted double-digit growth in revenue, procedures, and installed base but ISRG stock is down over 40% from its highs. We dig into why the market is repricing this healthcare stock despite strong fundamentals.Da Vinci procedure growth came in at 15% year-over-year, the installed base grew 12% to nearly 12,000 systems worldwide, and revenue hit $2.9 billion, up 19% year-over-year. Non-GAAP gross margin expanded to 70%. Yet none of that has stopped the stock's slide.We break down Intuitive Surgical's revenue mix between recurring instruments and accessories, systems revenue, and services, and walk through what's actually driving the selloff. That includes the impact of ACA subsidy expirations on elective procedure volume, hospital capital spending trends, GLP-1 headwinds on bariatric surgery, and semiconductor memory cost pressures mentioned on the earnings call. We also cover the Extended Use Program and a recent FDA filing as potential positive catalysts, along with full year 2026 guidance.Finally, we run a reverse DCF to figure out what growth rate is actually priced into ISRG stock today, and whether this sets up as a legitimate buy-the-dip opportunity for long-term investors or if there's more downside ahead.Semi Insider members get access to CSI's research platform and tools, plus deeper research as it happens. Join at chipstockinvestor.com.Get 15% off your fiscal.ai membership with our link: fiscal.ai/csiThis content is for general information or entertainment only and is not specific or individual investment advice. Forecasts and information presented may not develop as predicted, and there is no guarantee any strategies presented will be successful. All investing involves risk, and you could lose some or all of your principal. CSI owns shares of Intuitive Surgical.
Transcribe →Mycronic Raises Guidance: Why We're Still on the Sidelines
3w ago00:13:01Tap to summarizeMycronic just raised full-year guidance after a surprise rebound in equipment orders, and the stock already popped on the news. Here's what's actually driving the turnaround, and why we're still on the sidelines.Mycronic is a Swedish semiconductor equipment company that plays on the edges of the core wafer fab process, supplying pattern generators for photomask production, along with test, chip packaging, and PCB assembly equipment. In this episode, we break down Mycronic's Q2 2026 earnings, including a 7% year-over-year decline in its largest segment, Pattern Generators, offset by a 118% surge in Global Technologies, its fastest-growing test and packaging business. We also cover the smaller High Volume and PCB Assembly Solutions segments, one of which is undergoing restructuring after a recent acquisition underperformed.Combined net sales grew 17% year over year, and management raised full-year 2026 guidance by roughly 500 million SEK. We dig into Mycronic's tuck-in acquisition strategy, balance sheet strength (net cash, minimal debt), and run a reverse discounted cash flow model to estimate fair value.If you're looking for semiconductor equipment exposure beyond the "Fab Five" — ASML, Applied Materials, Lam Research, Tokyo Electron, and KLA — Mycronic is worth understanding, even if it's not a stock we're buying right now.Semi Insider members get access to CSI's research platform and tools plus deeper research as it happens. Join at chipstockinvestor.com.Full research and stock tools: https://chipstockinvestor.comGet 15% off your fiscal.ai membership with our link: https://fiscal.ai/csiContent in this podcast is for general information or entertainment only and is not specific or individual investment advice. Forecasts and information presented may not develop as predicted, and there is no guarantee any strategies presented will be successful. All investing involves risk, and you could lose some or all of your principal.
Transcribe →