So update from $LITE + Win Semi ( $SIVE ) foundry: Lumentum in a meeting with Stifel at ECOC 2026 stated: - $NVDA Spectrum-6 CPO UHP demands increased materially. - NPO as larger than CPO, with multi-wavelength external lasers lifting ASPs (Sivers offers multi wave length DFB arrays, read through on higher valued products) - Demand for UHP lasers continues to exceed supply Just a status update in terms of how the optical bottleneck is going (laser prices going up, demand exceeds supply). Digitimes also reported today Win Semi ( $SIVE foundry ) was expanding capacity for CW lasers. - "CW products... are expected to gradually emerge in the second half of 2026", with meaningful revenue contribution likely coming in 2027 and 2028. - Win has strengthened inventory management for InP substrates while moving toward 6-in InP wafers for ongoing process testing. Currently relies on Tier-1 International suppliers. - Many of this was spent on DUV tools from $ASML but (Win Semi's orders spanned machinery, equipment, and fab engineering work) So that answers a lot of questions about Sivers' partner "how is this company securing InP substrates", "4in vs 6in", "production timing" TLDR: - NPO > CPO (per Lite), multi-wavelength lasers going brrr for prices - demand > supply (continuation) - Not sure why people have been bear posting Win Semi when turns out they have everything needed to mass produce CW lasers.

So... here's my take on US / China tensions: You have European monopolies like: - $ASML (EUV) - $SOI (Photonics-SOI) - Zeiss SMT (ASML EUV supplier), Trumpf (ASML EUV laser supplier) Japan has many near/complete monoplies like: - TOK, JSR, ShinEstu, Fujifilm for EUV photoresist - 90-100% share - coat/develop equiment with Tokyo Electron -90%+ - actinic EUV patterned mask inspection (Lasertec) -100% share - EUV mask blanks (HOYA, AGC) ~93% share - arf photoresist - Nittobo T-Glass - ABF film (Ajinomoto) - lot of misc from specialty glassAGC, wafer thinning/grinding/dicing with Disco and others. Then there's US allied countries like Taiwan eg. $TSM, Korean memory with $SKHY / Samsung. US has EDA with Synopsys/Cadence, $LCRX / $KLA, $NVDA, and many downstream giants. China has many chokepoints such as gallium, graphite, refined lithium, and others + benefits from cost mass production over many future supply chains (eg. robotics). If I had to give my opinion on US / China supply chain wars: - US is trying to achieve Western independence from China/Russia rare earths + materials supply, but took too long (should have been a priority last decade). - China is trying to eliminate strategic chokepoint dependence and forcing US reliance on Chinese supply chains (as seen with Wf6) It's a race on who achieves supply chain independence first to gain leverage over the other. And fun thing is, AI acceleration kinda throws an unknown variable in terms of speeding up independence. As well as open source efforts (eg. RISC-V), which China is heavily focusing on. So it's a weird paradox where US should theoretically support open source hardware development + open source AI, but it's also being exploited against them. From a Chinese perspective, they're pressuring US supply chains by targeting Japan, which increases Western supply chain reliance on China. And going down the list to eliminate competitor chokepoints internally by throwing subsidized spend into R&D. Or by acqusition as seen with China's acquisition of EU leaders like Ficontec. America... they had all the cards initially, but I think they got too comfortable, and took too long to focus heavily on rare earths (recent funding is a good thing). The earlier tariffs went the wrong way (socks, furniture, other exports), and pissed off allies in EU/Canada too. Which could have been used for leverage for major chokepoints. But maybe they'll realize soon enough why allies are important. Anyway, we'll see what happens, just my two cents about ongoing dynamics. In an ideal world, everyone works together... TLDR: Just some shower thoughts on how there's an unspoken race on who achieves supply chain independence first to gain leverage over the other.

$ASML (August 19, 2026-Daily Chart) For the upward momentum to continue, ASML needs to clear the momentum bar at $1,800. If the pullback continues, the momentum bars at $1,585 and $1,749 will act as key support levels. https://t.co/dzxxMiIaXC

$ASML (July 16, 2026-daily chart update) No doubt, $ASML is the right stock to hold this cycle as the clear leader of the semiconductor equipment space. $1,730 continues to be the critical support for $ASML. Each time the stock has hit this level, it has triggered a strong rebound. Key resistance levels sit at $1,860, $1,960, and $2,000 respectively.

$ASML (July 11, 2026-daily chart update) $ASML needs to hold above the support zone between $1,700 and $1,730 in the coming week to prevent a downtrend from forming. Resistance sits at the $1,858 area. https://t.co/5KHmuMXiEk

Hard to see a world where US AI hyperscaler capex drops dramatically from $GOOGL to $META. When China entities like 360 go and claim: They now have a "AI cyber nuclear weapon" that can hack Western companies and governments. (Zhou claimed Mythos was like an AI era cyber nuclear weapon, then claimed they built a Chinese equivalent). We're probably witnessing the modern cold war. But instead of nuclear stockpiles, it's racing to build superintelligence both offensively and defensively. With many different "battles" happening concurrently like supply chain export controls between China -> Japan -> US hyperscalers. The funny thing is that everyone still depends on one another: - US with things like rare earths and feedstock from China. - China with EUV to EDA and engineered substrates. So there's still give or takes trades to build up capabilities like Nvidia/AMD AI chips access for rare-earth/magnets access. Which is exactly why it's important for the US to build up rare earths supply chains ASAP. And not piss off allied supply chain chokepoints like European EUV partners with $ASML to Japanese vacuum/furnace makers like Ulvac with things like tariffs, if the US wants to use it as leverage for negotiations. But we're getting dangerously closer to a point where supply chain interdependence is not a deterrent against escalation. Especially as China grows closer to becoming self-reliant. And that might be the tipping point.

Trump administration is prob realizing now that the key to winning Trade Wars: Is through frontier supply chains like Quantum, AI, Robotics. Not cheap Nike sock exports. With $ASML, $TOWA, $LPK, Ajinomoto, over in Japan, EU, TW, Korea, and others holding all the cards… Since each country holds different monopolies and chokepoints needed to make each industry work. Which all happens to be OUTSIDE the US. Tariffing all our partners turned out to be not a great idea. But not too late imo to repair relations and weaponize global supply chains through partners if Trump wants better trade deals.

How does China manage to smuggle in something the size of a school bus from $ASML? Is the real question. https://t.co/Yru8VY5hPO

RT @dannycheng2022: $ASML (May 21, 2026-monthly chart) My monthly chart spans from December 2018 to May 2026. The four buy signals have been spot on and very accurate in hindsight, clearly highlighted on the monthly chart. When holding the right stocks, trading in and out will only cause you to miss the long-term rally!

$ASML (May 21, 2026-monthly chart) My monthly chart spans from December 2018 to May 2026. The four buy signals have been spot on and very accurate in hindsight, clearly highlighted on the monthly chart. When holding the right stocks, trading in and out will only cause you to miss the long-term rally!

Leopold released his 13F and uhh... WHAT IS THIS? Puts in $SMH $NVDA $ORCL $AVGO $AMD $MU $TSM $ASML Bro turned into Michael Burry However, the fact that he was in these positions on March 31st means that the following rally over the next six weeks absolutely obliterated him. What is happening to Leopold (or what does he think is happening to us)?

When I see comments like this (and there are a lot) from retail investors: I immediately think they lack the technical depth. I'll walk through each one from $SIVE to $LPK: 1. Photonics TAM goes from $14B -> $154B In just two years time, and it's likely going to keep scaling past 2030 as it's the next generation architecture of choice. It's not going away in 1 year. It's not going away in 3 years, which is why $LITE premiums keep going higher since they're backlogged into 2028. $SIVE supplies CW lasers and is highly tethered to CPO and now pluggable transcivers for 1.6T and 3.2... For expected companies like $JBL, Ayar, Lightmatter, Lightelligence, $POET, $MRVL Celestial, and $AMD. This isn't a "trade", it's the core chokepoint and IP holder for the next generation of photonics. And it's a comfortable hold for the next few years as they scale to become the next $LITE. The risk I personally see (since they're already qualified with so many players), it's mainly how much TAM they can capture of the overall optical supercycle. (And potential risks with Win Semi volume ramp, but Win is massive so I can sleep tightly there). As just supplying lasers isn't enough to justify valuation. It's TAM expansion downward into making the entire ELS or entire pluggable transceiver that makes these laser companies so valuable. Then afterward, they can vertically integrating upward for gross margin expansion upward like $COHR into doing the laser fabs or even substrate level. And that in my view is a very asymmetric risk/reward ratio as we've already seen this done with $LITE as they went from $2B to $80B. 2. $LPK - Is the purest exposure, without the messy financials of SKC Absolics, as the next advanced packaging shift for glass substrates. Almost every single major semi company from $INTC to Samsung are adopting glass substrates. $LPK is basically $ASML of this chokepoint, since they supply to ~80% of the global players currently. Yes, there's "trade cycles" for equipment suppliers like $ASML, where if there's more foundry capex, ASML scales up. But if there's downturns, these tend to perform poorly, and don't capture all the volume ramp that happens after. However, if the MC is $650m and they're making $100-200M, revenue per costumer volume ramped, the amount they make from the glass substrate cycle will likely exceed current valuations. And they'll have baseline fundamentals (as more companies adopt the packaging shift), that keeps their valuation up. It's just a waiting game for volume ramp at this point. 3. $AAOI - This is literally $INTC but for America + Photonics. It's like saying Intel is not a long term investment. Guess where all your optical transcivers are made? China. Thailand. Malaysia. If you look at Innolight, Eoptolink, $FN, and others. AOI is building the largest Made in America supply chains for both CW laser fab, as well as 800g, 1.6T assembly. Yes, there are pluggable cycle ups and downs to this as well. There's going to be a wave for 1.6T next year, then CPO cannibalizes pluggables down the road. But since they make the entire supply chain in house, they have extreme optionality for other segments. And like $NVDA older gen-GPUs, there's going to be sovereign DC requirements for older gen pluggables from names like $AAOI. It's likely going to keep rising as it hits that $400m+/month revenue target H2 2026. There's just a lot of different short term volatility along the way like the $600m dilution. 4. $IQE - ??? It's one of the most important players in the Western word for epiwafers. $MTSI went out of their way to pay off IQE's debt because they can't have them going under. $IQE is also supplying to $LITE. The world is currently bottlenecked both on the epiwafer level from Landmark comments and InP substrate levels. Their financials were track but the raw book value, and value they hold to the entire Western supply chain... completely justifies their valuation. And other optical companies will not let their core upstream supply chain go under. As these tens of millions worth of materials would screw up tens of billions worth of downstream products. Again photonics is the next generation architecture required to scale AI. It's not Quantum where it's just "In development". It's literally here and the architecture of choice by $NVDA. I would not be surprised if all of these are a lot higher in 3-4 years time. People who think it's one and done in 3 months time "only because I mentioned it" don't know what they're talking about. Institutions would have bought up the name eventually (like Point 72 on $IQE) and retail would only find out after their valuations are 600% higher. Should really do the research before adding comments like these: These are all forward growth companies that require in-depth supply chain knowledge.

RT @dannycheng2022: Semiconductor Forward P/E (as of May 10, 2026): $NVDA: 26.0x $AMD: 53.0x $TSM: 26.3x $AVGO: 38.0x $SMCI: 11.3x $ON: 33.2x $ASML: 39.0x $SMH (semis ETF) ~33-38x weighted avg. $SOXL is leveraged — no standard P/E. I own the first three — $NVDA, $AMD, and $TSM — and they make up the largest portion of my portfolios. I’ll continue holding and adding more if whales offer bigger discounts. How about you?

Semiconductor Forward P/E (as of May 10, 2026): $NVDA: 26.0x $AMD: 53.0x $TSM: 26.3x $AVGO: 38.0x $SMCI: 11.3x $ON: 33.2x $ASML: 39.0x $SMH (semis ETF) ~33-38x weighted avg. $SOXL is leveraged — no standard P/E. I own the first three — $NVDA, $AMD, and $TSM — and they make up the largest portion of my portfolios. I’ll continue holding and adding more if whales offer bigger discounts. How about you?