Goldman Sachs said investor concerns over MediaTek and AMD taking ASIC share from Broadcom may have gone too far, arguing that the current setup has created a buying opportunity rather than a reason to step back. In a second-quarter preview dated Aug. 18, the bank kept its Buy rating on Broadcom and reiterated a $525 price target, versus a current share price of $392. Goldman said the market has become too conservative on competition, leaving Broadcom’s AI revenue outlook and networking business underappreciated. The firm projects Broadcom’s AI revenue at roughly $57 billion in FY2026, broadly in line with consensus, and $133 billion in FY2027, about 12% above consensus. Goldman said that gap points to a systematic underestimation of Broadcom’s competitive position next year. The report said the stock’s reaction after earnings will likely depend on three issues: quantified guidance for FY2027 AI revenue, updates on the ASIC competitive landscape, and data center readiness for FY2027 deployments. Goldman also argued that Broadcom’s edge lies not only in chip design but in high-volume manufacturing, delivery history, and customer relationships, while data center capacity remains the key bottleneck for the broader AI supply chain.

Bitget UEX’s latest daily market report said interest-rate options in the U.S. Treasury market are increasingly being used to position for Federal Reserve rate cuts in 2027, while expectations for a September hike have eased sharply from levels seen two weeks ago. The note tied that shift to softer July inflation, retail sales and consumer sentiment, along with a surprise decline of 23,000 in nonfarm payrolls. Swap pricing now implies only about 9 basis points of tightening at the September meeting. The report also pointed to a separate macro driver: U.S. officials said Donald Trump had told his negotiating team, including Vice President Vance, envoy Witkoff and Kushner, to pause contact with Iran. That kept uncertainty around Hormuz-related supply channels in focus and helped support crude prices. In parallel, tighter power-use oversight for data centers in Pennsylvania, Texas and New York has added pressure to the AI infrastructure trade, which Bank of America strategists now view as a midterm-election variable. Across markets, BTC traded around $64,600 and ETH at $1,915, while U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $298 million in net inflows the previous day. U.S. equities fell, led by AI hardware, semiconductors and optical networking names, with Nvidia, Meta, Coherent and Lumentum among the laggards. Apple was one of the few large-cap tech names to close higher.

Taiwan stocks are trading near record highs, but electronics and AI names are under pressure as U.S. Treasury yields hit fresh highs and geopolitical risks stay elevated. That has pushed container shipping back into focus, with spot rates climbing and the SCFI and Drewry WCI both moving higher. The article breaks down how analyst Chou Chia-ho views Wan Hai, Yang Ming and Evergreen based on route mix, long-term contract exposure and spot freight sensitivity. Wan Hai is described as having the strongest upside momentum, Yang Ming as the lowest-priced name with room to catch up, and Evergreen as the largest and most stable of the three. Tide data cited in the piece shows net buying of the shipping group by institutions over the past five trading days reached NT$17.3 billion.

Bank of America said SanDisk’s newly outlined long-term growth targets may offer a fresh valuation reference point for Micron (MU), leading the bank to reiterate its Buy rating and keep its $1,550 price target. That target stands about 61% above the $963 share price used in the report. SanDisk told investors it expects nearly 15% annual sales growth and gross margin above 80% by fiscal 2030. BofA argued that if Micron can deliver similar growth and profitability, supported by AI-driven demand for high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, and tighter supply discipline, the company may no longer deserve to be viewed purely as a traditional cyclical memory name. The bank said Micron’s fiscal 2030 earnings per share could reach $200 to $250 and added that a higher valuation for its AI-related HBM business could expand both earnings potential and the stock’s multiple. BofA also said Micron could trade at 12x to 15x earnings as profitability in the memory industry improves. On capital returns, the bank expects Micron may step up share buybacks after CHIPS Act-related restrictions expire on Dec. 9, 2026.

A rebound in memory stocks has been supported in part by a strong long-term outlook for the NAND market from SanDisk, according to Barron's, with investors now focused on whether price increases in DRAM and NAND can hold through the fourth quarter. KeyBanc projects DRAM prices to rise 15% to 20% quarter over quarter in the third quarter of 2026 and another 15% in the fourth quarter, while NAND is seen climbing 30% to 40% in the third quarter and a further 15% in the fourth. On a simple compounding basis versus the second quarter, that implies cumulative gains of about 32% to 38% for DRAM and roughly 50% to 61% for NAND by year-end. UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri set a $1,625 price target on Micron Technology, using expected 2029 EPS and about an 11x earnings multiple rather than 2027 to 2028 earnings because current supply shortages are keeping near-term profits elevated. FactSet data shows Wall Street's average price target for Micron at $1,549, above the stock's Aug. 14 closing price of $970.20.

A PANews analysis argues that Binance is not simply trying to extend stock trading hours into weekends. The bigger goal, the article says, is to compete for price formation after traditional equity markets close, using perpetual contracts as the first venue for directional expression and bStocks as the inventory and correction layer behind them. The piece compares weekend and reopening data across NVDA, TSLA, SNDK, SPCX and SKHY-related products, and finds that large volume alone does not prove durable price leadership. In one August 2026 weekend example, four stock perpetuals on Binance traded about $461 million in total and all priced above the prior cash close on Sunday, only for all four to open lower when the U.S. cash market returned on Monday. In a separate SNDK case during the U.S. Independence Day long weekend, Binance’s weekend market captured most of an eventual 4.8% opening gap, but overshot the move. Across 25 U.S. market close-to-reopen samples, Sunday direction matched the next cash open 13 times, or 52%. The article’s conclusion is that Perps may be efficient at generating a candidate price, but bStocks, stock conversion, borrow depth and on-chain circulation are what could determine whether that price can be held, financed, hedged, challenged and ultimately validated as a market price.

Wiwynn, a major server maker in Taiwan’s equity market, has drawn attention with an unusual dividend plan that combines a large cash payout with an exceptionally high stock dividend. The company reported 2025 consolidated revenue of NT$950.663 billion, net profit of NT$51.118 billion, and record EPS of NT$275.06. It has already completed the cash dividend distribution, while the stock dividend of 19.8279 shares per share is set to move into ex-rights trading on Sept. 2, with Sept. 1 as the record date. The report says the move reflects two management priorities. First, Wiwynn is trying to preserve cash as AI server demand drives spending on GPUs, ASICs, supply chain localization, and capacity expansion. The company has approved a $942 million capital expenditure plan for the second half of the year, equal to about NT$30.37 billion in the source. Second, the stock dividend is expected to lower the entry barrier for a stock that had reached NT$6,650 before the ex-rights event, or roughly NT$6.65 million per board lot. The article also highlights a tax issue specific to Taiwan. Unlike a stock split in the U.S., stock dividends in Taiwan are treated as taxable dividend income based on a par value of NT$10 per share, and qualifying distributions may also trigger a 2.11% supplemental health insurance premium. That leaves shareholders balancing potential long-term upside against immediate tax costs.

Applied Materials reported a record FY2026 third quarter, with revenue of $9.115 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $3.50, both above market expectations. Management said the company delivered the highest quarter-over-quarter revenue increase in its history, with semiconductor systems serving as the main engine of growth. Segment results showed semiconductor systems revenue at $7.04 billion, up 26.5% year over year, while Applied Global Services brought in $1.781 billion and other businesses contributed $294 million. Margins also stayed firm. GAAP gross margin came in at 50.3%, while non-GAAP gross margin reached 50.4%, marking the 13th straight quarter of year-over-year gross margin expansion, according to the company. For the next quarter, Applied Materials guided revenue to $9.75 billion-$10.75 billion, with a midpoint of $10.25 billion, and adjusted EPS to $3.82-$4.22, both above consensus estimates. The company also raised its 2026 semiconductor systems revenue outlook, said it expects full-year growth to outpace the broader market, and described 2027 as another year of strong growth. During the quarter, it launched six new process systems targeting DRAM and advanced packaging, added new deposition and etch equipment, expanded advanced cleanroom capacity at its $500 million Tampines campus in Singapore, and brought Broadcom, the University of California, Berkeley, and SCREEN Semiconductor Solutions into its EPIC center partnership network.