Good morning. It was a week of whiplash in chip markets, and Friday's session showed just how fast sentiment can turn when everyone is watching the same handful of stocks for signs of where AI spending is headed.
In today's newsletter: Samsung and SK Hynix's stunning one-day comeback, a fintech merger reshaping how India's biggest firms pay their suppliers, and the AI industry's quiet scramble to cut its Nvidia dependence.
SENSEX 77,763.91 ▲ 0.34% |
NIFTY 50 24,270.85 ▲ 0.39% |
USD/INR 95.30 ▼ 0.10% |
BRENT CRUDE $68.10 ▲ 0.2% |
Indian equities closed out a third straight winning session on Friday, with IT stocks doing the heavy lifting even as global chip markets swung wildly through the week. The rupee held steady and crude stayed anchored near $68 a barrel.
Samsung and SK Hynix Erase a Week of AI Panic in a Single Session
South Korea's benchmark Kospi index jumped 5.8% on Friday, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both surging more than 8%, as the two chipmakers clawed back most of a two-day, nearly 10% wipeout triggered by fears that AI infrastructure spending has outrun real demand. SK Hynix had suffered its steepest one-day drop since 2008 just a session earlier.
The turnaround came after word broke that Anthropic is in early talks with Samsung to build a custom AI chip, a sign that even labs sitting on mountains of Nvidia GPUs are hedging their bets on where AI hardware demand goes next. The relief rippled into Indian markets too, where IT stocks led the Nifty and Sensex to a third straight day of gains.
Samsung and SK Hynix now make up nearly half the Kospi's total weight, roughly double their share a year ago. That concentration is exactly why one overcapacity scare could whipsaw an entire national index in 48 hours, and why India's own IT-heavy rally can turn on the same headlines out of Seoul.
Samsung's preliminary June-quarter earnings land Tuesday, with analysts expecting operating profit near 85 trillion won, roughly eighteen times higher than a year ago. That print, not Friday's bounce, will decide whether this was relief or the start of a real re-rating.
A Quiet Fintech Merger Could Reshape How India's Biggest Firms Pay Their Suppliers
Supply-chain financier Mynd Fintech has acquired C2FO India Technologies, folding its early-payment platform into Mynd's own TReDS network to build a single gateway expected to process roughly ₹60,000 crore a year in invoice financing for more than 140 large corporates, including nearly half the Nifty 50.
For the more than 200,000 suppliers on the other side of those invoices, the combined platform is designed to open access to liquidity from more than 80 banks and NBFCs, cutting down the wait for payment that MSMEs often absorb while large corporates take their time settling bills.
Why an AI Lab Flush With Nvidia Chips Suddenly Wants Its Own Silicon
Anthropic is in early discussions with Samsung to co-develop a custom AI chip on a 2-nanometre process, with the design itself still undecided, according to a report from The Information. It is the clearest sign yet that frontier AI labs no longer want to be entirely dependent on Nvidia for the hardware their models run on.
The talks follow Samsung's role as a strategic infrastructure partner in Anthropic's $65 billion funding round in May, and the recent addition of a former member of OpenAI's chip design team to Anthropic's own hardware group, a sign the company is building in-house expertise rather than only outsourcing the decision.
Breaking.exe
SK Hynix goes to Wall Street. The world's dominant maker of AI memory chips will begin trading American depositary receipts on the Nasdaq from July 10, giving US investors direct access to a stock that has become a bellwether for the entire AI memory trade. |
Drone cooperative launches. India's first drone-focused cooperative society launches Saturday in New Delhi, with the government unveiling advanced skill centres across universities and ITIs to train workers in drone technology, AI and robotics. |
Pangaea Revisited
Pakistan-Sri Lanka defence talks. Pakistan's defence secretary led delegations at the sixth Pakistan-Sri Lanka Armed Forces Defence Dialogue in Colombo on Friday, with both sides reviewing military cooperation as Islamabad looks to deepen ties across the Indian Ocean neighbourhood. |
Also, Also, Also
Monsoon pushes north. The southwest monsoon advanced further into Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab this week, the India Meteorological Department said, edging seasonal rains closer to the last uncovered pockets of the country. |