Topic
The AI Build-Out
The capital, power and labour cost of the AI build-out, and the question of who is actually paying for it.
- TSMC shipped 9.6% more wafers. It took in 41.2% more dollarsAI and compute
TSMC took in 41.2% more dollars in July–September than a year earlier, on 9.6% more wafers. Revenue per wafer rose 28.8%, its biggest rise in 15 quarters.
- Chip output rose 4.8% last quarter. Chip prices fell 1.5%.Technology
Semiconductor prices fall while every other manufactured good gets dearer. The 12-month gap is ten points — and the quarterly decline is really two months.
- A record June for chip output — but not a seven-month climbTechnology
US semiconductor output hit an all-time high of 181.9 in June. Output fell in two of the seven months that got it there, and capacity is growing faster still.
- You cannot audit OpenAI's losses. You can audit the electricity bill.Technology
The AI build-out's costs are hidden inside private companies. But US tech capex is back near its dot-com share, electricity generation has broken a 14-year flatline, …
