Making Cents Sense

There are ordinary earnings reports, and then there are Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company earnings reports—the quarterly moment when much of the technology industry gathers around one company’s numbers and attempts to determine whether the artificial-intelligence boom is still a historic infrastructure cycle or merely the most expensive group project in corporate history. TSMC trades in the United States under the ticker TSM, but I do not think of it as just another semiconductor stock. I see it as the industrial foundation beneath an astonishing amount of modern computing. Other companies design the glamorous chips, announce them beneath theatrical lighting, give them aggressive names, and explain how they will transform civilization. TSMC performs the slightly less cinematic task of actually manufacturing many of them. Without that manufacturing capacity, the grand AI revolution becomes an attractive slide presentation waiting for hardware. That is what makes the next earnin...

I didn’t fall into the AI infrastructure trade because I’m a visionary. I fell into it the same way most people fall into anything remotely profitable—by realizing I was late, panicking slightly, and then deciding to pretend it was all part of a long-term strategy. Because if you’ve been paying even a little attention, you already know this: AI isn’t just software. It’s not just clever chatbots and eerily confident autocomplete. It’s an industrial operation. A supply chain. A sprawling, power-hungry, silicon-dependent machine that stretches from sand to server racks. And once you see that, you can’t unsee it. Everyone wants to invest in “AI.” But almost no one stops to ask what AI actually runs on. Not philosophically. Not metaphorically. Literally. What does it physically require to exist? That’s where things get interesting. Because the real AI trade—the one that isn’t already overcrowded with hype-chasers—isn’t just about the flashy names everyone throws around at dinner parti...

Broadcom Inc. — ticker AVGO — has become one of those stocks that financial headlines treat like a buzzy tech name and a blue-chip staple all at once. In late 2025 and early 2026, the equity market has been wrestling with two contradictory themes around this semiconductor and infrastructure software giant: 1. Incredible business fundamentals — revenue growth, AI exposure, big customer wins; 2. Stock price volatility and a valuation that has skeptics pushing back. Some investors see AVGO as a cornerstone of the AI era . Others see it as expensively priced with too much optimism baked in . And both camps have data to support their cases. Let’s unpack all of it. 1. AI Boom and Business Momentum Semiconductor and Infrastructure Software Growth Broadcom’s core has evolved far beyond traditional chips. While semiconductors still drive a majority of revenue, its enterprise software — especially infrastructure and cloud-oriented solutions — has become a major earnings stabilizer. This ...

If you’ve been watching the semiconductor universe with anything beyond a passing glance, the imminent earnings release of NVDA (Nvidia) alongside signs of life in the SMH (VanEck Semiconductor ETF) are telling a story worth paying attention to. Here’s a deep dive into how Nvidia’s upcoming report, SMH’s recent behavior, and the broader semiconductor narrative are converging—why this matters, what could go wrong, and what you might consider if you’re thinking contrarian (or just opportunistic). 1. Why Nvidia matters (way more than “just another tech stock”) When you hear “semiconductor” you likely think chips, manufacturing, a world of supply-chain tangles. That’s true—but Nvidia has shifted the paradigm. a) Nvidia’s evolving role Originally a GPU maker for gaming, Nvidia has graduated into the AI infrastructure kingpin. Its data-center chips (H100, etc.) power large language models and other AI workloads. Investors are now treating Nvidia less as a “graphics company” and more as ...