TechFlow’s Aug. 10 morning roundup collected a wide range of market developments, from Apple’s memory chip sourcing and Bitcoin market views to semiconductor shareholder returns, U.S. crypto legislation, and fresh on-chain transfers.
Apple tests CXMT memory chips for some China-market devices
On Aug. 9, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple is testing memory chips from China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies, or CXMT, across product lines including the iPhone and MacBook, as it looks to ease memory supply tightness tied to the artificial intelligence boom.
People familiar with the matter said Apple has held preliminary talks with CXMT and plans to use the components in some devices sold in China, while also seeking White House approval. The move carries political sensitivity. Some U.S. policy figures are concerned that cooperation could create technology spillover risks.
Under current U.S. rules, companies are barred from transferring technology to CXMT, including communicating technical details and product specifications. That means Apple cannot order custom chips from the company, though it can still buy standardized products and negotiate pricing. Even if the arrangement stays within compliance boundaries, Apple may still seek support from the U.S. government because of the political backdrop. If it uses standardized chips, parts of its product design may also need adjustment.
The report added that CXMT’s production capacity this year is already close to full utilization, leaving limited room for supply to new international customers. HP and Acer have already used small volumes of CXMT chips in some devices sold outside the U.S. and plan to lock in more supply for next year. On pricing, some CXMT products have reached or even exceeded the levels of Micron, SK hynix, and Samsung. The company’s second-quarter revenue rose more than eightfold year over year, giving it roughly 7% of the global DRAM market by revenue, and it plans to lift capacity to more than double current levels before 2028.
Nansen founder says Bitcoin may already have set this cycle’s low
On Aug. 8, Nansen founder and CEO Alex Svanevik said Bitcoin’s current price near $60,000 may already mark the low for this cycle.
“I personally think bitcoin won’t go back below $60k. I think that’s in the past, and I think forever,” Svanevik said.
He said the view is based mainly on Bitcoin’s role as a hedge against expansion in global central bank money supply, adding that he does not yet see signs that the global monetary easing cycle is about to end. He also said the crypto industry is going through a structural shift, moving away from what he described as a “toy world of blockchains” toward real-world applications.
SK hynix said to be preparing a $71 billion shareholder return plan
On Aug. 8, The Korea Economic Daily reported that SK hynix is preparing a shareholder return package including share buybacks and cash dividends, with a total size estimated at 100 trillion won, or about $71 billion.
Of that amount, the share repurchase portion is expected to reach 40 trillion won, or about $28.4 billion, representing more than 2% of total shares outstanding. The scale is close to the proportion of new shares the company previously issued for its American depositary receipt, or ADR, listing.
Compared with last year’s shareholder return total of about 14.3 trillion won, including roughly 2.1 trillion won in cash dividends and about 12.2 trillion won in share cancellations, the new plan would be about seven times larger.
Behind the plan is SK hynix’s leading position in HBM, or high-bandwidth memory, a core part of AI infrastructure. The company expects revenue this year of about 345.6 trillion won and operating profit of about 266.4 trillion won, up roughly 256% and 464% year over year, respectively.
SK hynix previously said on an earnings call that HBM4 shipments will ramp in the second half, while advanced-process DRAM shipments are also set to rise, with total shipments expected to exceed first-half levels. Market institutions said stronger profitability, supported by continued growth in AI compute demand, could help repair valuation. HSBC had earlier said the market was pricing SK hynix’s earnings cycle too pessimistically, and this shareholder return plan could become one factor behind better valuation.
Ansem stays bullish on PUMP
On Aug. 9, crypto trader Ansem said he will keep updating his trading view on PUMP and argued that the token could continue moving up from a cyclical local low, potentially even reclaiming levels above its historical peak.
His main case was that PUMP is seen as one of the stronger profit-generating projects in crypto, with about $2 billion in cash reserves. Based on a circulating market capitalization of about $1 billion, he said the valuation is below 2.8x price-to-earnings, and that the market is undervaluing it because of a bias against “tokenization.”
Ansem also said rising on-chain activity and possible distribution through a mobile app could help. If tokens launched on the platform, including ANSEM, draw in retail participation, PUMP could be one of the main beneficiaries. He said he expects it could enter the top 10 by market capitalization within two years.
Unitree Technology opens share subscription on Monday
On Aug. 9, Unitree Technology was reported to be starting its public share subscription on Monday. Public information showed an issue price of 150.8 yuan, implying an issue valuation of about 61 billion yuan.
According to monitoring by on-chain analyst EmberCN, pre-market contracts on Hyperliquid were trading around $88, or about 587 yuan, implying a valuation of about 237.4 billion yuan, roughly 3.9 times the valuation implied by the issue price.
Based on the pre-market price, one lot of 500 shares would imply potential profit of about 220,000 yuan. Based on a maximum subscription of 12 lots, the probability of winning one lot was about 0.3%.
Grayscale says odds of CLARITY Act passage this year have dropped
On Aug. 9, Grayscale Head of Research Zach Pandl said the chances of the bipartisan U.S. crypto market structure bill known as the CLARITY Act passing this year have fallen materially because of the Senate calendar and election-year politics.
The article said failure to pass the bill would not affect the operation of major blockchains in the short term, would not weaken demand for Bitcoin as a store of value, and would not stop growth in stablecoin payments.
Still, the absence of comprehensive market structure legislation could limit new investment and startup activity in the U.S. The CLARITY Act had been intended to provide a fuller regulatory framework for digital assets, covering on-chain fundraising, the development of tokenized securities markets, and oversight of digital asset intermediaries.
Grayscale said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators may still fill some gaps through additional rulemaking, but without systematic legislation, some new investment and developer activity could once again move overseas.
On-chain moves: BitMEX transfer and another Tornado Cash deposit
According to Onchain Lens, BitMEX once again moved 367.65 BTC from a cold wallet to a hot wallet, worth about $23.92 million at current prices. The exchange has made several similar transfers over the past week, which may be related to user withdrawal processing after the closure notice it released last month.
Also according to Onchain Lens, on Aug. 9 the Solana OG attacker sent another 2,290 ETH, worth about $4.39 million, to Tornado Cash. The move came nearly one month after the earlier $14.2 million exploit. On-chain data showed the same address cluster had used Tornado Cash two weeks earlier.
Saylor posts another Bitcoin Tracker message
On Aug. 9, Michael Saylor, founder and executive chairman of Bitcoin treasury company Strategy, posted another Bitcoin Tracker-related message. Based on the company’s previous pattern, Strategy typically discloses changes to its Bitcoin holdings the day after such a post appears.
