Semiconductor & Technology Specialist, Ingenuity

William Keating

Semiconductor & Technology Specialist

Ingenuity

Our focus is exclusively on in-depth research & consulting in the broader semiconductor industry. We focus on the key players, namely Intel, Micron, Qualcomm, Apple, Samsung, NVIDIA, AMD, TSMC & Global Foundries - as well as some of the lesser known, but nonetheless critical, companies such as ASML (for EUV), Mellanox, Cavium, Xilinx etc. We specialise in their products, roadmaps, process technologies, competitive advantages & threats etc. We also help our clients understand the implications of new and emerging technologies, e.g. 3D X-Point, 3D NAND, Carbon Nanotubes, Autonomous Driving, Graphene, Silicon Photonics, Wafer-Level Optics, Artificial Intelligence, FPGA, GPU, ASIC etc. 

Semiconductor Analysis & Research

Equity Bottom-Up

On September 22 last,  <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/western-digital-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1094:1" rel="noopener">Western Digital'</a> (WDC) issued a press release regarding their plan to create separate organizations for their HDD and SSD businesses. WDC's share price surged by more than 10% in the aftermath of the announcement, fueled by speculation that the company may take things one step further by creating two separate business entities entirely. We think this is not likely to happen. Here's why.

On September 22 last,  Western Digital' (WDC) issued a press release regarding their plan to create separate organizations for their HDD and SSD businesses. WDC's share price surged by more than 10% in the aftermath of the announcement, fueled by speculation that the company may take things one step further by creating two separate business entities entirely. We think this is not likely to happen. Here's why. 

Western Digital. Spinning Out Either HDD Or SSD Divisions Makes No Sense.

Equity Analyst, LightStream Research

Shifara Samsudeen, ACMA, CGMA

Equity Analyst

Long-Short Analysis on Japan, Asia and the World

LightStream Research

LightStream conducts quantitatively rigorous and data-driven analysis with a focus on Japan and Asia.

We consistently cover the Tech, Consumer and Industrial sectors, and provide ECM and Events coverage more broadly.

We supplement traditional qualitative insights from company relationships with a robust quantitative foundation that examines as much historical data as is available.
We further refine the accuracy of our insights and calls through the use of alternative data to flesh out current trends, and through a valuation framework that emphasises non-superficial peer group selection and a proper attempt to understand the metrics and changes that have driven security valuations in the past.

It was reported by several news media outlets that Reliance Industries’ telecom unit has asked local suppliers to ramp up production capacity to make as many as 200m smartphones over the next two years. The company has been in talks with local assemblers to make a version of its Jio smartphone which would run on Google’s Android.The low-cost phone will cost around INR4,000 (US$54) and these phones will be marketed with low-cost wireless plans from Jio. Reliance is targeting to sell around 150-200m phones over the next two years and these could be launched in December 2020 or early next year.The introduction of cheap entry-level smartphones will not only help Jio Platforms establish its dominance in the country’s smartphone market, but also will help gain subscribers from its rivals Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi).

It was reported by several news media outlets that Reliance Industries’ telecom unit has asked local suppliers to ramp up production capacity to make as many as 200m smartphones over the next two years. The company has been in talks with local assemblers to make a version of its Jio smartphone which would run on Google’s Android.The low-cost phone will cost around INR4,000 (US$54) and these phones will be marketed with low-cost wireless plans from Jio. Reliance is targeting to sell around 150-200m phones over the next two years and these could be launched in December 2020 or early next year.The introduction of cheap entry-level smartphones will not only help Jio Platforms establish its dominance in the country’s smartphone market, but also will help gain subscribers from its rivals Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi).

Reliance: Launch of Low-Cost Smartphones; An Attempt to Kill Two Birds with One Stone

Consumer Analyst / Channel Surveillance Specialist, Trudence Capital Advisors

Pranav Bhavsar

Consumer Analyst / Channel Surveillance Specialist

ASA Capital Management

ASA Capital Management is a boutique Research and Investment Advisory firm focusing on primary research in India. ASA provides bespoke research services to Institutional Clients with a focus on due diligence backed with primary research, Field Trips & Channel Checks.

Private Capital Markets

Our objective with this weekly is to highlight notable developments in the India internet and consumer sector focusing on public and private companies. The sub-sectors covered include payment providers, e-commerce retailers,  social media platforms and consumer companies.
<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/paytm-mobile-solutions-pvt-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26149:1" rel="noopener">Paytm (PAYTM IN)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/alphabet-inc-cl-c" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:11369:1" rel="noopener">Alphabet Inc Cl C (GOOG US)</a>'s spat over the application's removal from the Google PlayStore. Further, we also cover India's fantasy sports market where Dream11 sees Paytm First Games as a major threat.  </li>
<li>Apple set to open its first online store in India this festive season, on-ground fulfilment to be done by <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/blue-dart-express-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:6700:1" rel="noopener">Blue Dart Express (BDE IN)</a> </li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/walmart-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:11134:1" rel="noopener">Walmart (WMT US)</a> owned Flipkart is planning an IPO, raises additional funds from <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/tencent-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26:1" rel="noopener">Tencent Holdings (700 HK)</a> </li>
</ul>

Our objective with this weekly is to highlight notable developments in the India internet and consumer sector focusing on public and private companies. The sub-sectors covered include payment providers, e-commerce retailers,  social media platforms and consumer companies.


Paytm (PAYTM IN) and Alphabet Inc Cl C (GOOG US)'s spat over the application's removal from the Google PlayStore. Further, we also cover India's fantasy sports market where Dream11 sees Paytm First Games as a major threat.  
Apple set to open its first online store in India this festive season, on-ground fulfilment to be done by Blue Dart Express (BDE IN) 

Walmart (WMT US) owned Flipkart is planning an IPO, raises additional funds from Tencent Holdings (700 HK) 


India Internet & Consumer Weekly | PayTM, Apple, Flipkart

Asian Insight Provider - Actionable ideas, CrossASEAN Research

Henry Soediarko

Asian Insight Provider - Actionable ideas

CrossASEAN Research

At CrossASEAN Research we strive to produce unbiased and differentiated on the ground insights on companies across South East Asia. Our Research is produced for the most part after face to face meetings and conversations with company management to dig deep into the long term vision and strategy of the companies we cover. We seek to deliver investable and actionable themes on sectors and markets across SE Asia, often in collaboration with other Insight Providers across the region, pooling the vast experience of the analysts within the Smartkarma Ecosystem. We also offer bespoke work and tailor made trips for our clients. 

Insights across South East Asia

Apple has come out with an announcement yesterday that they will launch a new iPad and no iPhone.  The good news is that <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/byd-electronic-intl-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1927:1" rel="noopener">BYD Electronics (285 HK)</a>is included in Apple's supplier list to manufacture around 20-30% of iPad, and investors have been expecting this - causing the ultra optimism reflected in the share price YTD performance, beating the peers and even <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/apple-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:666:1" rel="noopener">Apple Inc (AAPL US)</a> . 
Unless the new iPad is selling like hotcakes and the domestic wearables and 5G migration really helps to increase demand, it is hard to see why BYD Electronics' share price run-up is justifiable. 
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For long-only investors - it is time to book profit. 
For long-short investors - it is time to start shorting the stock. 
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Apple has come out with an announcement yesterday that they will launch a new iPad and no iPhone.  The good news is that BYD Electronics (285 HK)is included in Apple's supplier list to manufacture around 20-30% of iPad, and investors have been expecting this - causing the ultra optimism reflected in the share price YTD performance, beating the peers and even Apple Inc (AAPL US) . 
Unless the new iPad is selling like hotcakes and the domestic wearables and 5G migration really helps to increase demand, it is hard to see why BYD Electronics' share price run-up is justifiable. 

For long-only investors - it is time to book profit. 
For long-short investors - it is time to start shorting the stock. 


BYD Electronics (285): Time to Take Profit?

The much-anticipated acquisition by <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/nvidia-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:5891:1" rel="noopener">NVIDIA</a> of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/arm-holdings-plc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:21816:1" rel="noopener">Arm</a> from <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/softbank-group-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:315:1" rel="noopener">Softbank</a> was formally <a href="https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/nvidia-to-acquire-arm-for-40-billion-creating-worlds-premier-computing-company-for-the-age-of-ai" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> on Monday. The transaction is valued at $40 billion, an approximately equal combination of cash and NVIDIA stock.On the surface the deal looks strategically solid from NVIDIA's perspective. It places the company at the center of Arm's one hundred and eighty billion connected device ecosystem. Perhaps even more importantly, it opens up the possibility of an outright assault on <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/intel-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:16764:1" rel="noopener">Intel's</a> data center dominance by adding Arm-based server processors to complement NVIDIA's existing lineup of GPUs and interconnect.Underneath the surface however, this deal is fraught with issues and risks. While Arm has been a very successful company, their growth is flatlining as smartphone sales stagnate. Furthermore, we see the rise of RISC-V as a very real threat to Arm's business model in the coming years. Arm has never competed with its customers. Under NVIDIA ownership, this will be virtually impossible to avoid.From a regulatory perspective, Arm IP moving under american ownership will raise the very real prospect that this technology will become a future weapon in the US-China trade and technology wars. In today's environment, it's difficult to see why China would agree to facilitate that possibility.All in all we think this deal is not as good as it seems on the surface and that it will be practically impossible to get through the regulatory approval process.

The much-anticipated acquisition by NVIDIA of Arm from Softbank was formally announced on Monday. The transaction is valued at $40 billion, an approximately equal combination of cash and NVIDIA stock.On the surface the deal looks strategically solid from NVIDIA's perspective. It places the company at the center of Arm's one hundred and eighty billion connected device ecosystem. Perhaps even more importantly, it opens up the possibility of an outright assault on Intel's data center dominance by adding Arm-based server processors to complement NVIDIA's existing lineup of GPUs and interconnect.Underneath the surface however, this deal is fraught with issues and risks. While Arm has been a very successful company, their growth is flatlining as smartphone sales stagnate. Furthermore, we see the rise of RISC-V as a very real threat to Arm's business model in the coming years. Arm has never competed with its customers. Under NVIDIA ownership, this will be virtually impossible to avoid.From a regulatory perspective, Arm IP moving under american ownership will raise the very real prospect that this technology will become a future weapon in the US-China trade and technology wars. In today's environment, it's difficult to see why China would agree to facilitate that possibility.All in all we think this deal is not as good as it seems on the surface and that it will be practically impossible to get through the regulatory approval process. 

NVIDIA+Arm. Strategically Solid But Practically Impossible.

United States

Apple Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories, and sells a variety of related accessories. The Company also offers payment, digital content, cloud and advertising services. Apple Inc.'s customers are primarily in consumer, small & mid-sized business, education, enterprise and government markets worldwide.

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Apple (AAPL US)

Western Digital. Spinning Out Either HDD Or SSD Divisions Makes No Sense.

On September 22 last, Western Digital' issued a press release regarding their plan to

William Keating

Reliance: Launch of Low-Cost Smartphones; An Attempt to Kill Two Birds with One Stone

It was reported by several news media outlets that Reliance Industries’ telecom unit has asked local suppliers to ramp up production capacity to...

Shifara Samsudeen, ACMA, CGMA

India Internet & Consumer Weekly | PayTM, Apple, Flipkart

Our objective with this weekly is to highlight notable developments in the India internet and consumer sector focusing on public and private...

Pranav Bhavsar

BYD Electronics (285): Time to Take Profit?

The good news is that BYD Electronics (285 HK)is included as App

Henry Soediarko

NVIDIA+Arm. Strategically Solid But Practically Impossible.

The long-anticipated acquisition by NVIDIA of Arm Holdings (ARM LN)

William Keating

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