In today’s briefing:
- Tekscend Photomask (429A JP) IPO: Trading Debut
- An Update of Our 2025 High Conviction Pick: Samsung Electronics
- Paypal & Google Are Quietly Launching The Future Of Commerce—Your Wallet Just Got Smarter!
- Microsoft’s New AI Can Give Health Advice—And Harvard Is Backing It!
- Tekscend Photomask IPO Trading – Priced at the Top, but Still Relatively Cheap
- TCS’s $7 Billion Bet: Building India’s AI Backbone
- Memory Monitor: Nanya Tech Indicates DRAM Price Spike to Persist Longer; SK Hynix Relative Trade
- Chey Divorce Verdict Tomorrow at 10 AM: SK Inc Poised for Larger-Than-Expected Intraday Moves
- Confluent Up For Grabs? AI Infrastructure Giant Eyes Sale Amid Industry Frenzy!
- JST Group Pre-IPO: Premium to Peers but Potentially a Domestic “Shopify”
Tekscend Photomask (429A JP) IPO: Trading Debut
- Tekscend Photomask (429A JP) is a global leader in semiconductor photomasks. At the IPO price, Tekscend will raise JPY138 billion (US$910 million). The shares will be listed on 16 October.
- I previously discussed the IPO in Tekscend Photomask (429A JP) IPO: The Bull Case, Tekscend Photomask (429A JP) IPO: The Bear Case and Tekscend Photomask (429A JP) IPO: Valuation Insights.
- The peers have re-rated since the release of the prospectus. My analysis suggests that Tekscend is attractively valued at the IPO price.
An Update of Our 2025 High Conviction Pick: Samsung Electronics
- Back on 6 November 2024, we published an insight called 2025 High Conviction: Samsung Electronics. In this insight, we provide an update of Samsung Electronics.
- Samsung Electronics reported operating profit of 12.1 trillion won (up 31.8% YoY and 18.7% higher than consensus) in 3Q 2025.
- The final installment of the 12 trillion won+ inheritance tax is due in April 2026.
Paypal & Google Are Quietly Launching The Future Of Commerce—Your Wallet Just Got Smarter!
- The commerce landscape is about to undergo a structural transformation as PayPal and Alphabet’s Google join forces in a multi-pronged AI-driven payments partnership launching in Q4 2025.
- Announced in September, the alliance will embed PayPal’s checkout experience directly into Google’s ecosystem—across Google Cloud, Google Ads, Google Play, and select consumer-facing properties.
- At the same time, the two companies are co-developing AI frameworks to power agent-led transactions, where autonomous digital agents make purchases on a user’s behalf using PayPal data.
Microsoft’s New AI Can Give Health Advice—And Harvard Is Backing It!
- Microsoft is making a bold move into the healthcare AI space, partnering with Harvard Medical School to improve the reliability of medical advice generated by its Copilot assistant.
- The collaboration, set to be unveiled with an update to Copilot as early as this month, integrates health content from Harvard Health Publishing.
- This step reflects Microsoft’s broader ambitions to establish Copilot as a leading AI assistant not just in productivity software but in areas demanding high accuracy and trust—like healthcare.
Tekscend Photomask IPO Trading – Priced at the Top, but Still Relatively Cheap
- Tekscend Photomask (429A JP), a manufacturer and distributor of semiconductor photomasks, raised around US$900m in its Japan IPO.
- TP is a global provider of photomasks and related support services. It has been the leader in the merchant photomask market in terms of sales since 2016.
- In our previous note, we looked at its past performance and valuations. In this note, we will talk about the trading dynamics.
TCS’s $7 Billion Bet: Building India’s AI Backbone
- Tata Consultancy Services has announced a bold USD 6–7 billion investment to build a 1 GW sovereign AI data center network across India, its most capital-intensive project to date.
- This move shifts TCS from labor-based IT services to AI-driven infrastructure, aligning it with global compute leaders and advancing India’s AI and data-sovereignty goals.
- TCS’s initiative could reshape India’s digital backbone, driving investment across allied sectors and marking a long-term re-rating opportunity for Indian tech toward infrastructure-led growth.
Memory Monitor: Nanya Tech Indicates DRAM Price Spike to Persist Longer; SK Hynix Relative Trade
- Nanya Tech 3Q25: Rebounds to Profit Thanks to DDR4 Price Surge Windfall… But Underlying Structural Drivers Remain Unsteady
- The World’s DDR4 Shortage to Extends Pricing Spike Through 4Q25
- Nanya Technology vs SK Hynix — We Expect Relative Strength Ahead for SK Hynix Over Nanya Tech
Chey Divorce Verdict Tomorrow at 10 AM: SK Inc Poised for Larger-Than-Expected Intraday Moves
- Supreme Court divorce ruling for Chairman Chey (17.9% owner) hits tomorrow 10 a.m., likely driving intraday swings.
- Chey’s wealth is mainly SK Inc (17.8%) and SK Siltron (29.6%). With half SK Inc shares tied, only SK Siltron offers liquidity, but it still falls short of his needs.
- If the Supreme Court surprises, Chey may act on SK Inc shares, fueling a management/control narrative. Payments are due immediately, so SK Inc could see bigger intraday swings than expected.
Confluent Up For Grabs? AI Infrastructure Giant Eyes Sale Amid Industry Frenzy!
- Confluent, a leading provider of real-time data streaming infrastructure, has reportedly initiated a sale process amid renewed takeover interest from private equity firms and strategic technology buyers.
- According to Reuters, the company is working with an investment bank to explore options, though discussions remain in early stages with no guarantee of a deal.
- The interest comes as Confluent navigates a turbulent stretch in its public market journey—its stock plunged 33% in July 2025 after losing a major AI-native customer, yet it remains an essential enabler of AI-driven applications, processing vast volumes of real-time data.
JST Group Pre-IPO: Premium to Peers but Potentially a Domestic “Shopify”
- JST Group (1703609D CH) is looking to raise up to US$270m in its upcoming Hong Kong IPO.
- It is China’s largest and most popular e-commerce SaaS ERP provider.
- In this note, we examine the IPO dynamics, and look at the firm’s valuation.
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