Sector Update: Energy

The analyst team at LYNX Equity Strategies pointed out that if Solidigm's IPO funds had been used to expand NAND capacity in the US, it could have increased global supply after three years or more, thereby putting downward pressure on pricing. Now that this financing channel is closed, the associated risk has disappeared, which is a substantial positive for both Micron and SanDisk; however, for Intel, it is a minor negative, as it means losing a potential manufacturing project.

Western Digital's CFO strongly supports AI storage demand, stating that hyperscale cloud providers are continuously expanding capital expenditures and are already discussing supply needs for 2030 to 2031. Although the company’s quarterly results exceeded expectations and profit guidance was raised, capital expenditures more than doubled compared to the same period last year, putting pressure on free cash flow. This has raised concerns in the market about the sustainability of investment returns in AI data centers, causing the stock to close down by about 3% on Friday.

Meta AI chief Alexandr Wang stated that Muse is available to regular users for free and that Meta has no plans to introduce advertisements. Meta plans to offer paid services to enterprises, but specific pricing and launch timeline have not been disclosed. He also mentioned that Meta's proprietary infrastructure, security systems, and data centers provide Muse with a competitive advantage that is difficult for rivals to replicate.