Daily Brief TMT/Internet: Samsung Electronics, Nexchip Semiconductor , Horizon Robotics, Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) – ADR, Altera, Freelancer Ltd, Serverworks, Featherless.ai, BT Group PLC, Soluna Holdings and more

• In this insight, we discuss some of the key beneficiaries in Korea that could actually stand to gain from such export restrictions. 
• We also discuss other Korean companies that could be negatively impacted by this move by the Chinese government. 
• Despite the uncertainties related to China’s export restrictions of rare earths minerals, we do not expect sudden collapse of the entire semiconductor and EVs value-chain in Korea.

• There could be one change for the CNI Semiconductor Chips Index with Nexchip Semiconductor (688249 CH) replacing Amlogic Shanghai (688099 CH) in June.
• Passive trackers are estimated to buy 1.4x ADV in Nexchip Semiconductor and sell 0.8x ADV in Amlogic Shanghai. There will be buying in Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) due to capping.
• The forecast add and delete have performed in line since the start of the year but there has been a move higher in the last few weeks.

• Horizon Robotics (9660 HK) raised around US$800m in its Hong Kong IPO in October 2024. The lockup on its pre-IPO investors is set to expire soon.
• Horizon Robotics (HR) is a provider of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving (AD) solutions for passenger vehicles, empowered by its proprietary software and hardware technologies.
• In this note, we will talk about the lockup dynamics and possible placement.

• Will Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) – ADR (TSM US) work on Intel Corp (INTC US)‘s Foundry Services (IFS) and invest about 20% share?
• Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) – ADR (TSM US) Chairman and CEO Dr. CC Wei has promised to further invest USD$100bn to establish capacity in the US; what’s the reasoning behind this?
• Given the current US tariff issue, what is the best investment advice?  

• Intel yesterday announced that it was selling a 51% stake of its Altera business to Silver Lake for $4.46 billion
• The deal values Altera at $8.75 billion, roughly half what Intel paid to acquire the company over a decade ago
• Altera’s CEO, Intel veteran Sandra Rivera, will be replaced with a new CEO, Raghib Hussain, formerly president of Products and Technologies at Marvell

After reporting positive momentum in Q424, Freelancer saw year-on-year growth in gross marketplace volume (GMV) and revenue in Q125 across both divisions. The company also generated positive operating profit and cash flow in the quarter. We view the adoption of AI (by Freelancer, by freelancers and by customers) and new integrations and partnerships within Escrow as key drivers of growth and profitability during our forecast period.

• Serverworks’ FY02/25 revenue was JPY35.7bn (+29.8% YoY), exceeding forecasts with a 100.4% achievement rate.
• Cloud Integration revenue reached JPY2.3bn (+23.7% YoY), driven by demand for cloud transitions and hybrid strategies.
• Resale services revenue was JPY23.3bn (+34.0% YoY), supported by increased AWS usage and new customer acquisitions.

• Featherless.ai, a US-based serverless AI inference platform, has raised US$5 million in seed funding.

• The investment comes from a notable list of global investors, including Airbus Ventures, 500 Global, Kickstart Ventures, HF0, Panache Ventures, and Oakseed Ventures.

• With the new funding, Featherless.ai intends to advance research and development into next-generation AI architectures to lower inference costs, potentially enabling AI deployment on lower-cost hardware.

• BT Group’s half-year performance reflects a mixed set of results, with progress in strategic priorities met with challenges in certain segments.
• The company continued to focus on its five strategic priorities, which include enhancing its UK presence, accelerating fiber build-out, reducing costs, and improving customer satisfaction.
• Notably, the Openreach division achieved significant milestones in its fiber build-out and connections, surpassing expectations, and maintaining its market-leading position with a strong take-up rate of 35%.

• Soluna recently released its March business update, in which the company highlighted a major milestone.
• Soluna was awarded its second US patent, which expands the scope of its modular data center design and is key to transforming wasted energy into sustainable computing.
• Other highlights of the update included Soluna announcing that 2024 revenue was up 80.5% Y/Y to $38 million.