In today’s briefing:
- This Week in AI (Aug 2-8): MiniMax H3 Led Video AI; DeepSeek Raises Price and Resumes Funding
- Ohayo Japan | S&P 500 Hits Record Close as Semiconductors Rally
- SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY CYCLE MONITOR — Issue #5 | 1-8 Aug 2026
- Berkshire Buying Back Stock = Stock Undervalued!
This Week in AI (Aug 2-8): MiniMax H3 Led Video AI; DeepSeek Raises Price and Resumes Funding
- We tracked AI models, infrastructure, and M&A this week: MiniMax H3 topped video editing while DeepSeek moved toward higher API pricing.
- China labs are active: Alibaba launched Qwen3.8-Max, Tencent expanded Hy3, ByteDance accepted a frontier gap, and Kimi K3 escaped a test sandbox.
- Infrastructure and financing: memory makers expanded capacity, CoreWeave and Microsoft added data centers, and Switch filed for a US IPO.
Ohayo Japan | S&P 500 Hits Record Close as Semiconductors Rally
- US stocks extended gains: The S&P 500 rose 3.6% for the week to a record close above 7,700, while the Nasdaq surged 5.2%, marking a second consecutive weekly gain
- Tech shares rallied on earnings: Software, Cloudflare, Atlassian, and Airbnb gained following upbeat earnings and forecasts, easing concerns over potential AI-driven disruption.
- Labor market softened: July nonfarm payrolls unexpectedly fell by 23,000, while the unemployment rate edged down to 4.1% and wage growth slowed to its lowest pace since May 2021.
SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY CYCLE MONITOR — Issue #5 | 1-8 Aug 2026
- SanDisk smashed Q4 FY26 on every metric — $8.97B revenue, 84.6% gross margin, EPS $39.25 — then guided Q1 FY27 fractionally below the whisper. NAND cycle intact; Korea disagreed violently.
- SK Hynix stop triggered 6 August. Week seven of Korea’s forced-selling correction; FSC margin rules now live; ₩27.9T margin loans vs ₩38.6T June peak. Clearing, not collapsing.
- Top Trade rotates to Samsung at ₩231,000 — 3.21x P/B, ₩89.2T Q2 DS operating profit, ₩90T buyback pending. The cheapest large-cap memory name globally.
Berkshire Buying Back Stock = Stock Undervalued!
- Dear all, Berkshire Hathaway’s 2nd quarter 2026 earnings came out yesterday, August 8th. Stock Buybacks
- As I anticipated in my preview report three weeks ago, Berkshire’s share repurchases proved to be a big surprise.
- Moreover, my forecast was not only correct directionally , but also numbers wise, highly accurate!
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