S&P 500 earnings for the third quarter are expected to rise 23.9% from a year earlier on 11.4% higher revenues, according to Zacks Investment Research, with 14 of 16 Zacks sectors posting positive earnings growth and 6 sectors producing double-digit growth. The double-digit gainers are Aerospace at 159.5%, Energy at 111.8%, Tech at 41.9%, Basic Materials at 29.8%, Transportation at 14.9% and Industrial Products at 13.0%. Excluding the Tech sector, Q3 earnings for the rest of the index would be up 14.3%; excluding Energy, aggregate growth would fall to 19.9%; excluding both Tech and Energy, the rest of the S&P 500 would grow 7.4%. Within Tech, excluding Nvidia, Micron and Alphabet, Q3 earnings for the rest of the sector would be 20.5% versus 41.9% otherwise, while the Zacks Semiconductor industry is expected to post 85.4% earnings growth on 62.8% revenue growth. Since the start of Q3, Energy has seen the largest upgrade to its earnings outlook on elevated oil prices tied to the Persian Gulf situation, with Aerospace, Industrial Products, Tech, Autos, Transportation, Finance and Utilities also enjoying positive revisions.
Apple Cuts iPhone 18 Pro Component Orders 15% to 20% on Soft Demand and Memory Costs
Apple asked suppliers to cut October component orders for its new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max by at least 15% to 20%, according to early October 2026 reports, citing softer demand and sharply higher memory chip costs tied to AI infrastructure. The order reduction lands on the iPhone 18 and foldable iPhone Duo cycle, which the article frames as Apple's key near-term catalyst, and reflects pressure from elevated component pricing and mixed reception to higher flagship iPhone prices. Separately, Apple made Formula 1 available in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos on Apple TV in the U.S., a Services-side addition that does not offset the weaker iPhone 18 Pro demand or elevated memory pricing. Apple's narrative projects $618.2 billion in revenue and $164.4 billion in earnings by 2029, requiring 9.8% yearly revenue growth and roughly a $35.5 billion earnings increase from $128.9 billion today, with a $328.09 fair value implying 3% downside to the current price. The most pessimistic analysts already assumed about US$624,000,000,000 in revenue and near US$156,000,000,000 in earnings by 2029 on thinner margins, and the demand wobble and memory cost spike could push that cautious view on execution and profitability further.
Micron Technology Taoyuan Workers Vote to Authorize Strike Over Bonus Dispute
Workers at Micron Technology's Taoyuan facility in Taiwan have voted to authorize a strike after bonus negotiations failed. The authorization covers staff at a key memory manufacturing plant that supports Micron's global supply chain for memory and storage products, with labor representatives framing the dispute around year-end compensation and bonus terms tied to recent corporate performance metrics. The vote puts a critical production hub at higher operational risk just as Micron runs very high capex and leans on tight DRAM and NAND supply as a profit driver, while rivals Samsung and SK Hynix contest AI memory share. Micron designs and manufactures memory and storage products across the United States, Taiwan, Japan, Mainland China, Hong Kong and Europe, so any disruption in Taiwan affects a production network serving data centers, consumer devices and AI hardware customers worldwide. Analysts have already flagged high capital intensity and cyclicality as major risks, and the dispute adds a people and supply-chain layer to that same concern.
MU · Supply · Negative Taoyuan workers authorize a strike at a key memory plant, raising operational risk to Micron's DRAM/NAND production and supply chain.
Musk's Terafab to Begin Mass Production in Texas by 2032
Plans emerged on the 9th that Terafab, the semiconductor manufacturing initiative launched by American businessman Elon Musk, aims to have a large-scale mass production plant operating in Texas by 2032. According to people familiar with the matter, preparations are underway to start up a semiconductor pilot plant in the state during 2027, and orders have already begun to be placed with Japanese semiconductor manufacturing equipment and materials companies for the pilot plant. The plant is expected to be completed as early as July 2027 and to begin operating within that year. At the large-scale mass production plant targeted for operation in 2032, production of logic semiconductors capable of advanced computing and memory will be handled at a single facility, with final production scale projected at roughly 1 million wafers per month, of which about 70 percent of capacity will be allocated to memory and about 30 percent to logic. The production scale will be comparable to the large-scale plants of major semiconductor makers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and South Korea's Samsung Electronics. For logic semiconductor production, Intel of the United States will provide technical cooperation, with adjustments underway to adopt the company's 2-nanometer and 1.4-nanometer circuit linewidth technologies, while for memory manufacturing a plan has surfaced for a Taiwanese company to provide technical cooperation. Terafab is an initiative announced by Musk in March, under which the electric vehicle giant Tesla and space development company SpaceX will lead the development of semiconductor plants, investing 55 billion dollars initially, with total investment potentially expanding to 119 billion dollars including additional portions.
SPCX · Capital · Positive SpaceX is named as co-lead of the Terafab semiconductor initiative, which involves $55B initial and up to $119B total investment.
TSLA · Capital · Positive Tesla is named as co-lead of the Terafab semiconductor initiative, which involves $55B initial and up to $119B total investment.
INTC · Technology · Positive Intel will provide technical cooperation for Terafab's logic production, with its 2nm and 1.4nm technologies to be adopted.
005930.KO · Competition · Neutral Samsung is only cited as a comparison for Terafab's planned production scale, not as a participant.
2330.TW · Competition · Neutral TSMC is only cited as a comparison for Terafab's planned production scale, not as a participant.
Console Sales Hit 13-Year Low as Memory Shortage Lifts Prices Ahead of GTA VI
Video game console sales have fallen to their lowest August level in 13 years, with the memory shortage continuing to weigh on consumer prices. Dan Howley, Yahoo Finance Technology Editor, said a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series S or Series X bought in 2020 or 2021 is now worth more than its original price, with consoles going for $150 to $200 above their initial launch price. He attributed the increases to President Trump's tariffs last year and to the data center build out, which has made storage chips and memory chips harder to come by and more expensive, costs that companies like Apple, Samsung, HP and Dell pass on to consumers. Nintendo raised the price of its original Switch, which came out in 2017, and also raised the price of its Switch 2 by $50 when President Trump introduced tariffs on consoles made in China. Howley said the hope is that Grand Theft Auto VI, which launches in November, will lift console demand, noting that GTA 5 had made $6 billion as of a few years ago and that developers have moved their games earlier or into 2027 to avoid its blast radius.
7974.JP · Pricing · Neutral Nintendo raised Switch and Switch 2 prices due to Trump's China tariffs, while GTA VI could lift console demand.
6758.JP · Supply · Negative Memory shortage and tariffs lift PS5 prices and console sales hit a 13-year August low.
005930.KO · Supply · Negative Memory/storage chip shortage tied to the data center buildout is making chips harder to come by and more expensive, a supply-side cost pressure for Samsung's memory business.
AAPL · Supply · Negative Memory/storage chip shortage and tariffs raise input costs that Apple passes on to consumers.
DELL · Supply · Negative Data-center-driven memory chip shortage raises Dell's component costs, which it passes to consumers.
HPQ · Supply · Negative Memory chip shortage and tariffs raise HP's input costs, passed on to consumers.
Sandisk reported fiscal Q4 2026 revenue of $8,965 million, up 372% from a year earlier, with gross margin of 84.6%, and guided fiscal Q1 2027 revenue to $10.30 billion to $10.80 billion with non-GAAP earnings per share of $44.00 to $46.00. Datacenter revenue reached $2,977 million in the quarter, up 103% sequentially, and $5,153 million for fiscal 2026, up 437%, while edge revenue was $5,432 million for the quarter, up 48% sequentially. Since its April earnings call, the company has signed five more agreements under its New Business Model, three with new customers and two expanding earlier deals, and it backs out $2,476 million tied to prepayments and deposits under these agreements when calculating adjusted free cash flow for fiscal 2026. The board approved another $14 billion in buybacks, bringing the remaining authorization to $15.5 billion. The stock trades at 7.75 times forward earnings as of October 6, against a sector P/E of 23.74, even as analysts expect EPS growth of 23.72% in 2027; about two-thirds of fiscal Q4 sequential growth came from higher prices and one-third from higher volume, and consumer revenue fell 32% from the prior quarter.
Cloud & Digital Infrastructure › Enterprise Data Storage Systems ▲Pricing
SNDK · Capital · Positive Sandisk reported blowout fiscal Q4 2026 revenue of $8,965M with 84.6% gross margin, guided fiscal Q1 2027 revenue to $10.30-$10.80B, and authorized another $14B in buybacks.
SNDK · Demand · Positive Datacenter revenue reached $2,977M in the quarter (up 103% sequentially) and the company signed five more New Business Model agreements, three with new customers.
Jacob Funds Adds Rambus Stake on Data Center Memory Shift
Jacob Funds disclosed a new position in Rambus Inc. in its third-quarter 2026 investor letter, citing the memory chip maker's exposure to data center infrastructure trends. The Jacob Internet Fund added Rambus as its sole new holding in the quarter, with the firm arguing the market underestimates the rollout of next-generation MRDIMM server memory, which doubles data transfer speeds without costly server redesigns. Jacob Funds said the shift toward memory pooling should lift the dollar value of Rambus components inside every AI server, driving higher average selling prices and wider margins in its product revenue category. Rambus closed at $108.47 on October 08, 2026, with an $11.76 billion market capitalization, an 18.04% year-to-date gain, a 52-week range of $77.89 to $174.10, and $756.33 million in trailing twelve-month revenue. Fifty hedge fund portfolios held the stock at the end of the second quarter, up from 35 in the previous quarter.
RMBS · Demand · Positive Jacob Funds added Rambus as its sole new holding, citing underestimated MRDIMM server memory rollout and memory pooling that should lift the dollar value of Rambus components in every AI server.