$SKHY Very Interesting. SK Hynix has started a research & development in CPO. Rumor is: $MU is also following suit on Optical Interconnects. Seems like AI Memory Roadmap is far from done.
“SK hynix is moving from a memory supplier to a bigger role in the AI infrastructure. According to the company, it has teamed up with leading researchers worldwide to lay out a roadmap for co-packaged optics (CPO) in the journal Nature Electronics.”
“As noted by SK hynix, in the long term, CPO could extend optical interconnects directly to the memory interface, overcoming the physical limits of conventional packaging. Thus, its proposed optics-centric architecture uses a photonic interposer to directly link memory and processors, improving system-wide data movement efficiency.”
“Notably, beyond its HBM leadership, SK hynix’s paper tackles data bottlenecks at the rack and pod levels, outlining an optics-centric architecture that links memory and processors through optical interconnects.”
“As hyperscale AI clusters scale to thousands of GPUs and HBM stacks, conventional copper links are hitting their limits, with higher speeds and longer distances driving up power consumption, latency and signaling complexity, SK hynix explains, adding that this is creating a new bottleneck: the bandwidth wall, which increasingly constrains data movement across AI systems.”
“Against this backdrop, CPO addresses the challenge by integrating optical transceivers (TRx) directly into the processor package, shortening high-speed electrical paths while using optical links for longer-distance data transfer.”
Mu CEO on CNBC WITH JIM
記憶體不再是系統裡的一個零件。
Sanjay 自己講的:
「Memory is no longer a component in a system.
It’s strategic infrastructure for AI.」
以前 CPU、GPU 當主角,記憶體被當繼子。
現在 AI 每多生一層 context,就得先過記憶體這一關。
HBM → DRAM → SSD,整條 hierarchy 被重新排序。
沒有更多、更快、更低功耗的記憶體,
AI 就是跑不動、變不聰明、擴不上去。
美光砸 100 億蓋 Research Labs,
不是為了短期產能,是為了把材料、製程、封裝、運算一起重新綁死。
這不是願景。
這是物理層的重新定價。
記憶體��� commodity 變 infrastructure 的那天,
整個 AI 的成本曲線跟瓶頸位置,都跟著移位了。
$MU
$MU is committing another $10B to expand its U.S. memory R&D footprint with a new long-horizon research hub in Boise.
Micron Research Labs will focus on advanced memory, compute, packaging and future chip manufacturing with groundbreaking planned for 2027.
We made rockets reusable and are rebuilding the internet in space. The next challenge: making life multiplanetary and understanding the true nature of the universe
Watch @ElonMusk deliver a company update to @SpaceX employees
As a earnings recap: $AMZN, $META, $GOOGL, and $MSFT guided a 2026 combined capex forecast to ~$720-$745 Billion.
Up from $695-$725B Billion previously.
Amazon: $220B
Google: $195B-$205B
Meta: $130B-$145B
Microsoft: $175B
We've already seen significant deleveraging and retail/institutional margin liquidations (maybe it continues for more time, who knows).
But medium-long term, I'm not quite sure how anyone can be bearish the upstream semis or neoclouds.
Given each hyperscaler has flagged either compute shortages, rising cloud demand + pricing power, or increased spending for chips/networking.
My "bottleneck" thesis with many of these upstream semi supply chains is that when trillions in capital flows into things from InP substrates or memory (which were both treated as cheap commodities) or even energy.
Lot of these current AI names that were treated as useless before in telecom cycles or even toilet sellers.
Gets rerated when their inflection period hits and capex flows into their balance sheets.
As seen with $NVDA GPUs past few years, memory this year, CPUs/MLCCs next few years, CPO in 2027, Glass Substrates in 2027, 800V in 2027, and so on.
UBS: $MU COULD REPURCHASE MORE THAN 40% OF ITS SHARES BY THE END OF 2028
UBS expects Micron to generate over $40 billion in free cash flow through 2028. Once its buyback restriction expires on December 9, 2026, the company could potentially use that cash to repurchase more than 40% of its shares at the current price.