Daily Brief TMT/Internet: GCash (Mynt), Astera Labs , Pateo Connect Technology, PB Fintech, Silicon Box, Meta, Advanced Micro Devices, Tata Consultancy Services, TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing), Nscale and more

• Mynt, the digital payments and consumer finance platform behind GCash, launched its PSE IPO to raise up to USD 1,279m. MS, JPM, and UBS are the joint global coordinators.
• In this note, we look at the deal terms and provide our thoughts on valuation for the company.
• We look at the quality of the cornerstone investors and assess the risk-reward of the deal.

• The SP 500 index tracks the 500 largest (mostly profitable) US-listed names and is one of the most highly-tracked indices in the world.
• A spin-off completes next week, and the new company’s entry into the SP 500 is expected to trigger an intra-review deletion.
• We expect two ADDs and two DELs at the December 2026 rebalance, and two M&A deals could trigger intra-review ADDs before that.

• Pateo Connect Technology (PTC HK) raised US$140m from its Hong Kong IPO in September 2025 via a primary offering of HKD102.23/share in its IPO.
• It is one of the largest domestic providers of smart cockpit and intelligent connectivity solutions in China, providing full-stack smart cockpit solution and cloud-based vehicle connectivity, for Chinese OEMs.
• In this note, we will talk about the lockup dynamics and possible placement.

• On 23 September 2026 IRDAI proposed product- and channel-wise commission caps and a five-year EoM glide path, reversing the 2023 uncapped-commission regime.
• PB Fintech fell about 36% and Turtlemint hit a 20% circuit on 24 September as take-rate math, not just conduct risk, became the valuation variable.
• This is still a consultation, open until 25 October. The draft as written hits open-architecture platforms harder than tied agents and forces a cost and mix reset.

• Advanced Packaging Foundry Scale-Up: Silicon Box operates as a dedicated semiconductor packaging provider, transitioning from concept to commercialisation through its US$2.0b manufacturing facility in Singapore. The company leverages proprietary panel-level chiplet integration technology to address critical supply chain bottlenecks, having commenced mass production and secured early enterprise customer shipments within three years of its founding.
• Institutional Capitalisation And Backing: The investment case is anchored by strong capital generation velocity, evidenced by a US$302.5m Series B round that propelled the company to a valuation exceeding US$1.5b. Backed by a syndicate of top-tier institutional investors and corporate venture arms of major semiconductor incumbents, the firm possesses the deep funding capacity and ecosystem integration required to scale its operations globally.
• Capital Intensity and Execution Risk: The fundamentally asset-heavy manufacturing model imposes a heavy depreciation burden and structural margin compression during the ongoing facility ramp-up phase. Any construction delays, equipment supply chain disruptions, or yield degradation across its multibillion-dollar expansion projects in Singapore and Italy will directly threaten liquidity and force dilutive emergency equity raises.

• Meta’s 20× came from underestimated duration, not a cheap entry: net income rose 76-fold while the IPO’s roughly 104× earnings multiple shrank to 25×.
• The signals were visible early: proven margins, an engaged but under-monetized audience, a feared platform shift, free user-made inventory and a founder willing to cannibalize.
• Zynga and Groupon listed in the same months with big audiences but lacked owned distribution, repeat economics or cheap inventory; Meta’s soaring capex now fails one test.

• Accelerating Data Center and AI Inflection: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has established itself as the preeminent alternative in accelerated computing and high-performance x86 architectures, raising its 2030 Server CPU Total Addressable Market (TAM) forecast from $60B to $220B while targeting ambitious growth (>60% CAGR in Data Center and >80% CAGR in AI Data Center revenues).
• Robust Structural Margin and Cash Flow Expansion: LTM revenue reached $41.3B with Q2 2026 gross margins sustaining above 51.3% and net income reaching $2,297M, driven by favorable product mix shifts toward high-margin EPYC server CPUs, Instinct AI accelerators, and holistic full rack-scale Helios system solutions.
• Valuation and Macro Risk Premium: At a last price of $629.26 with an elevated beta of 2.49, current valuation multiples price in aggressive hyperscaler capex continuation and flawless multi-generation execution against formidable competitors, demanding disciplined milestone tracking on software stack maturation (ROCm/Optima) and enterprise token cost-efficiency.

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• TCS’s operating margins reached a four-year high of 25.0% in FY26, despite a constant currency revenue decline of 2.4%, demonstrating highly defensive operational discipline and the successful rollback of the complex organizational structure implemented under previous leadership.
• A spin-off of software product engines like TCS BaNCS is highly unviable because the IP acts as a critical wedge to secure massive, high-margin downstream systems integration and application maintenance services, while Tata Sons’ corporate governance model prioritizes steady, consolidated cash extraction over chasing discrete software valuation multiples.
• OECD Pillar Two minimum tax compliance presents minimal headwind to TCS’s P&L due to global jurisdictional blending and the progressive sunsetting of historical Special Economic Zone (SEZ) tax holidays under Section 10AA, shifting the regulatory focus to localized delivery center cost inflation rather than cross-border tax leakages.

• TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing) (2330 TT) closed the week up at 2,475. The stock has been flattening in the last few weeks, since the end of June, capped below 2,500.
• Recent news indicates TSMC is raising advanced process node prices by up to 6% due to constrained foundry capacity extending through 2030. Scheduled to take effect starting January 1, 2027.
• Sentiment remains highly bullish, driven by persistent AI demand, 1-year price analysts targets sit at ~TWD 3,175-3,224 (implying significant upside), with top-end estimates up to TWD 4,200. 

• The Execution-Funding Gap: Nscale’s headline $103.4 billion total contract value (TCV) is highly misleading; only $2.6 billion is active and generating revenue, representing approximately 25,000 active GPUs. The remaining $100.8 billion is an unbuilt backlog of 436,000 GPUs that requires billions in capital expenditure to realize, exposing the business to extreme execution and liquidity risks.
• Contract Contingencies and Concentration: Landmark agreements like the $44.6 billion Anthropic contract and $43.8 billion Microsoft contract together represent approximately 85% of Nscale’s total contract value. However, these are not fully committed cash flows; they are contingent on Nscale successfully delivering physical data center space and procuring chips, with Anthropic’s financing not yet committed.
• High Stock Dilution and Artificial Cash Flows: While Nscale’s 1H2026 revenue grew to $140.6 million, its $1.02 billion GAAP net loss (a -726% margin) was heavily driven by $113.8 million in stock-based compensation—equivalent to 81% of revenue—and $457.1 million in non-cash warrant markups. The positive $1.7 billion in operating cash flow is an accounting artifact driven by $6.5 billion in deferred customer prepayments, which GAAP treats as interest-bearing customer loans.