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A daily market brief, published each morning. Markets, stocks, industry, economy, global, and policy — sorted by category.

Interview·2026-11-06

[Noon Salon] Data Center Investment Concerns and How to Navigate a Market Plunge

CEO Park Jung said the Democratic victory was more likely to lead to demands that companies take greater responsibility for the burden data centers place on power, water and local communities than to stop data center construction itself. Projects already operating or in the construction or contract stages would be difficult to reverse, he said, adding that companies could respond to political scrutiny by bearing the costs or finding other locations. Park Jung stressed that investors should distinguish headlines from the details of actual projects to determine whether markets are overreacting to negative news. Delays to investment due to data center power shortages and Democratic regulatory concerns are separate factors, he said, while Microsoft's capital expenditure adjustments could reflect project-by-project spending management rather than an overall reduction in investment. Regarding semiconductor makers' expansion plans, he said further confirmation was needed to determine whether reports of Micron's Taiwan plant reflected an actual investment halt or statements made during labor negotiations.

Interview·2026-10-28

[Noon Salon] Memory Companies' Undervaluation and IR Challenges

Memory semiconductor companies are seen as capable of outperforming the broader memory market, supported by HBM and high-performance products. HBM boosts revenue through its high selling price, and a larger HBM share can increase overall earnings. Prices for server DDR5 also vary considerably by speed, including 7,200 Mbps, so competitiveness in high-performance products can determine results. Figures were cited showing that about 63% of Micron's revenue and about 68% of TSMC's revenue are related to data centers. The explanation was that data-center demand, HBM, and high-performance memory can offset relatively moderate consumer demand. Another analysis suggested that if ASML and Lam Research results and conference calls confirm equipment-supply constraints, equipment shipments to China may also be limited, potentially improving supply conditions for major memory companies. One view was that the low price-to-book ratios of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, despite high earnings, indicate that investors do not yet fully trust the sustainability of profitability. Investor relations (IR), the argument went, should do more than communicate strong results: companies should explain in concrete figures and plans how long earnings can last and how shareholder returns will be delivered. Rather than waiting for investors to react only after results are confirmed, companies need proactive communication to address market doubts. It was emphasized that AI investment is expanding beyond frontier-model companies and hyperscalers to include neoclouds, businesses, and sovereign AI initiatives at the national level. With bottlenecks still present in data centers and equipment supply, demand may continue to exceed supply rather than disappear in the short term. Memory companies were advised to explain both their strategies for a slowdown in price increases and the share of premium products. The view was also expressed that sharing investment returns and free cash flow with shareholders could help address undervaluation and lead to a reassessment of corporate value.

Interview·2026-10-27

[Noon Salon] Semicon Research Lab CEO Noh Geun-chang: “Doubts About AI Monetization Have Eased Somewhat”

Noh Geun-chang, CEO of Semicon Research Lab, viewed positively the improvement in revenue and profitability evident in Anthropic’s public disclosures. Revenue in the first half rose 14-fold year on year. The company remained loss-making under generally accepted accounting principles, but its adjusted operating margin was put at about 10%. The gross margin was about 85%, and Noh said profitability was improving as computing costs also declined. Noh highlighted Anthropic’s position at the point where end consumers and corporate customers use frontier AI models. Semiconductor companies are further removed from end users, so investors may question the durability of their results even when earnings are strong. But he said evidence of revenue and profits at frontier-model companies helps validate AI demand. He added that the public filing made it possible to examine a debate that had until then relied on rumors and narratives against actual data. Noh said growth continued after revenue slowed in August, supported by OpenAI’s Astra and other developments, and that Anthropic’s revenue was rising again in October. He also said combined monthly revenue at OpenAI and Anthropic continued to grow steadily. However, he said further examples were needed of companies that had adopted AI actually outpacing competitors and generating profits before investors’ doubts about monetization would be dispelled. He assessed that business-to-business (B2B) demand was more likely than end consumers paying AI subscription fees to drive demand initially. Companies are still at the stage of experimenting with AI as a matter of course, and need time to change their workflows and organizations. Noh said that as more companies such as Palantir demonstrate actual gains in industry-specific productivity and competitiveness through AI, resistance to the costs of frontier models could ease and valuations across related companies, including semiconductor firms, could recover together.