Chip Stock Investor Podcast

Hosted by Nicholas Rossolillo; Kasey Rossolillo

Business Investing

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478

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Aug 2026

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About the show

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.

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August 20, 202615 min

What Is Cloudflare's Biggest Risk? Hyperscaler Vertical Integration -- CSI Supply / Value Chain Demo

Cloudflare is growing 30%+ a year — but our supply chain mapping shows a warning sign most investors are missing. In this deep dive, we map the entire CDN supply chain — from hyperscaler and neocloud infrastructure down to enterprise software and e-commerce end markets — using our new Custom Supply Chain research tool. We break down where Cloudflare, Akamai, and Fastly actually sit relative to vertically integrated competitors like AWS, Microsoft, and Google, all of whom now run in-house CDNs. We cover how neoclouds like CoreWeave and Nebius fit into the AI infrastructure picture, why DigitalOcean's CDN relationship with Cloudflare matters, and which enterprise software names (Salesforce, ServiceNow, SAP, Palo Alto Networks) rely on which providers. Then we use the mapping to evaluate competitive positioning, pricing power, and where profit is actually accruing in the data center and cloud infrastructure ecosystem. If you're researching Cloudflare, Akamai's turnaround potential, or Fastly's multi-CDN diversification thesis, this framework will change how you evaluate these names. Members of Semiconductor Insider get our complete company-by-company research, valuation models, and portfolio allocation notes on Cloudflare, Akamai, and Fastly, plus weekly live Q&A and a growing set of tools to build your process: https://www.chipstockinvestor.com All our socials: https://linktr.ee/chipstockinvestor If you're getting value from the show, follow so you don't miss the next one. — Disclosure: Some links above are affiliate links. If you buy something through them, we might earn a little coffee money — thanks for helping us (Kasey) fuel our caffeine addiction. Content in this episode 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 Cloudflare.

August 18, 20269 min

The CDN Stocks Compared: Cloudflare vs. Akamai vs. Fastly | New Dashboard Preview

CDNs have quietly become one of the most important layers of internet and AI infrastructure, moving everything from website traffic to large-scale AI data transfer. In this episode we compare the three public leaders — Cloudflare (NET), Akamai (AKAM), and Fastly (FSLY) — on revenue growth, gross margin, operating margin, free cash flow margin, and balance sheet strength. We also give you a first look at the new Chip Stock Investor research dashboard, launching in September at chipstockinvestor.com. The CDN comparison is the demo: everything you hear us pull up, you'll be able to run yourself. A few things that stood out: Cloudflare, another 30%+ quarter (33.5% growth) with net cash, but trading near 40x sales at a $110B+ market cap. Akamai is larger by revenue, but carrying $4.2B in net debt after an acquisition-led push into cloud infrastructure. Fastly, growth re-accelerated past 20%, putting the smallest of the three back in the value conversation. Full company-by-company research, valuation models, and portfolio allocation notes go live for Semiconductor Insider members in September: https://www.chipstockinvestor.com Data and charts built with fiscal.ai: https://www.fiscal.ai/csi (15% off with that link) All our socials: https://linktr.ee/chipstockinvestor Chapters: (0:00) Why the CDN market matters for AI infrastructure (1:00) What a CDN actually does (3:00) How each company differentiates: security, compute, observability (3:45) Live dashboard: market cap and revenue (4:00) Revenue growth: Cloudflare's 33.5% vs. Akamai's slowdown (5:00) Margins that matter: gross, operating, free cash flow (6:00) Balance sheet: net cash vs. Akamai's $4.2B net debt (6:30) Long-term revenue trajectory (7:00) Cloudflare valuation: is 40x sales too rich? (8:00) Portfolio moves: trimming Cloudflare, Akamai's turnaround, Fastly's upside CSI owns shares of Cloudflare. Content is for general information or entertainment only and is not individual investment advice. All investing involves risk, and you could lose some or all of your principal.

August 17, 20268 min

SMCI: Everyone's Bullish Again — The Numbers Say Otherwise

Super Micro Computer is trending on social media again. Before you follow the hype, here's what the actual numbers say. CSI breaks down SMCI's most recent quarter using fiscal.ai data — gross profit margin below 11% and guided to stay near the trough, rising revenue with stagnant operating profit, and free cash flow that has been negative for most of the company's history. We also unpack the $7 billion equity and equity-linked financing raise from June 2026, the new SMCIP preferred stock paying a 7% dividend, and what that means for where common shareholders sit in the pecking order for future cash flows.We dig into the accounts payable and receivable dynamics behind SMCI's competitive pricing strategy, and why the lack of an in-house financing arm — unlike Dell, HPE, and Lenovo — remains a structural headwind that the headlines are not talking about.Affiliate links that are sprinkled in throughout this video. If something catches your eye and you decide to buy it, we might earn a little coffee money. Thanks for helping us (Kasey) fuel our caffeine addiction!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 doesn't own shares of Supermicro

August 17, 202612 min

Applied Materials (AMAT): Record Quarter, China Recovery & the Selloff Explained

Applied Materials just guided toward its first ever quarter exceeding ten billion dollars in revenue, with year-over-year growth above fifty percent at the midpoint. Nick breaks down the full AMAT update for August 2026 — results, guidance, the China recovery, and whether the stock still belongs in a portfolio after the selloff. Q3 fiscal year 2026 came in at nine point one billion in revenue with gross margins at fifty percent and operating margins above thirty percent. China is back in growth mode at roughly two point three billion in revenue. The ICAPS segment covering power, optical, and automotive is recovering. Applied is doubling manufacturing capacity by 2028. A reverse DCF suggests the stock is pricing in twenty-four percent annual earnings per share growth — not cheap, but CSI remains long. 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 AMAT.

August 14, 20268 min

DigitalOcean Sold Off After Earnings — Buy the Dip?

DigitalOcean just raised its 2026 growth guidance to 30–31%, and the stock sold off anyway. In this episode we work through what DigitalOcean's (DOCN) Q2 update actually changed. Management lifted full-year 2026 revenue guidance from 25–27% to 30–31% and pointed to a possible 50%+ growth rate exiting fiscal 2027. The driver is a scaling cohort of large enterprise and developer customers landing in a supply-constrained compute market — the same capacity bottleneck hyperscalers like Microsoft have flagged around data center construction. We cover the shift from an SMB cloud provider toward a developer and enterprise-scaler platform, why the co-location approach gives it an edge over hyperscalers building from the ground up, and how management reworked the balance sheet by retiring convertible debt, raising cash, and continuing buybacks. We also run a DCF scenario assuming a 36% five-year per-share profit CAGR, and talk through why the move from small-cap to midcap matters for a fundamentals-first thesis. For the reasoning behind more names like this one, Semiconductor Insider covers the process in more depth. Get access to all our research, weekly live Q&A events, and a growing set of tools to build your process: https://www.chipstockinvestor.com All our socials: https://linktr.ee/chipstockinvestor If this was useful, follow the show so new episodes land in your feed. Disclaimer: 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 DigitalOcean.

August 12, 202636 min

The Healthcare Bubble No One's Talking About (with Dr. Bradley Gibson)

A practicing pathologist explains why DaVita, UnitedHealth, and Natera are playing fundamentally different games — and why one of them could break first. Investing in healthcare stocks requires a different framework than semiconductor investing. In this excerpt from a CSI live Q&A, we sit down with Dr. Brad Gibson — a practicing pathologist and private-practice partner — to break down how the US healthcare system actually gets paid, and what that means for stock picking. Brad walks through four investable buckets: medical service providers (DaVita, Natera, TransMedics), health insurers (UnitedHealth, CVS, Cigna, Elevance), pharmaceutical companies (Eli Lilly, Vertex), and healthcare hardware/software providers (Stryker, Veeva, Intuitive Surgical). The conversation covers Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement mechanics, CPT codes and RVU conversion factors, why private practices are being pushed into hospital consolidation, how pharmacy benefit managers generate profit through rebates, and why UnitedHealthcare's vertical integration has drawn regulatory scrutiny. Brad also gives his take on AI in pathology and drug discovery, and explains why he's more concerned about a healthcare cost bubble than an AI bubble. If you're building a healthcare investing thesis for 2026, this is where to start. If you want the reasoning behind more names like this one, Semiconductor Insider covers the process in more depth: https://www.chipstockinvestor.com All our socials: https://linktr.ee/chipstockinvestor Content in this episode 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.

August 10, 202614 min

SanDisk (SNDK) Crashed 40% — Buy the Dip or Falling Knife?

SanDisk (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.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.CSI owns shares of Sandisk

August 9, 20267 min

Palantir Q2 2026: What's Really Driving 149% Growth

Palantir 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.

August 7, 202621 min

Rocket Lab's 8 Billion Dollar Bid for Iridium

Rocket 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.

August 6, 202613 min

Alphabet Earnings: The Conglomerate Discount Explained

Alphabet 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.