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Taiwan Semiconductor reported Q2 2026 revenue of $40.2B (+33.7% YoY), net income up 77.4% to ~$22B, EPS of NT$27.25 beating the NT$24.29 estimate, and gross margin of 67.7%. The company raised its full-year revenue growth guidance to above 40%. But shares dropped ~5% in early trading after TSMC lifted 2026 capex guidance from $52-56B to $60-64B, spooking investors worried about near-term free cash flow compression.
ASML reported Q2 2026 revenue of €9.3B with net income of €2.9B beating guidance, and raised its full-year 2026 revenue outlook from €36-40B to €43-45B — its second guidance hike of the year. Shares are pushing toward €1,650 as AI-driven demand for EUV lithography systems accelerates. The raise signals building semiconductor equipment backlogs, a powerful upstream indicator for the entire AI chip supply chain.
The four hyperscalers confirmed a combined $725B in 2026 AI capital expenditures, up 77% from $410B in 2025, led by Amazon at $200B, Google at $185B, Meta at $125B, and Microsoft at $120B. Research firm Epoch AI projects aggregate free cash flow across the group reaches zero by Q3 2026, with Amazon potentially running a $17-28B FCF deficit for the full year. The cash crunch is forcing a structural shift to debt-funded infrastructure on a scale the market has not seen before.
Technology companies have issued $182B in investment-grade bonds in 2026, a 1,300% year-over-year increase now representing 15% of total U.S. corporate bond issuance. CDS spreads for Oracle, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have hit roughly 75 basis points — near their highest level in seven years. Meta alone issued $55B in debt in six months and suspended its buyback program, while Amazon secured a $17.5B credit line from Citibank.
Anthropic is in active pre-IPO mode with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan scheduling meetings between the firm's executives and prospective shareholders. The company is valued at $965B after a $65B funding round in May — now ahead of OpenAI's $852B valuation for the first time — and says it is approaching its first quarterly profit. OpenAI separately filed confidentially for an IPO, though has not committed to timing.
Palantir and NVIDIA announced a sovereign AI initiative deploying Nvidia's Nemotron open models in air-gapped, secure government environments for U.S. military decision-making. Separately, Palantir won the U.S. Army's NGC2 modernization contract, establishing Foundry as the Army's core cloud data layer, while D.A. Davidson upgraded to Buy at $175. PLTR shares rallied from $107 to $133 — a 24% gain — as the three catalysts converged.
Chinese AI companies flagged preliminary profit surges exceeding 1,000% year-over-year, led by Zhipu AI which is up over 1,500% in 2026, but stock performance has been flat to mixed as months of anticipation have already elevated the bar beyond what even those numbers can clear. DeepSeek's valuation surged to $71B as the company pursues a Shanghai STAR Market IPO in late 2026. Bloomberg flagged the dynamic today as a cautionary read on priced-in perfection.
Microsoft reports fiscal Q4 results on July 29, with Wall Street expecting $4.23 EPS (+16% YoY) on $87.61B revenue. BNP Paribas projects Azure growth of 41% and 7-8M new paid Copilot seats for the quarter, while FY27 operating margin guidance will be closely watched as AI infrastructure depreciation ramps. Analyst targets range from $490 (Mizuho) to $625 (Wells Fargo), with Citi recently trimming from $620 to $570.
TSMC has notified its biggest customers — Apple, Nvidia, AMD, and Qualcomm — to prepare for wafer price increases of 5-10% as N3 advanced node capacity is fully sold out. The hike will flow through to chip margins across the sector, creating a direct cost headwind for chipmakers dependent on TSMC's leading-edge nodes. Combined with the capex raise, this cements TSMC's pricing power as the irreplaceable bottleneck of the AI chip supply chain.
AMD reported data center revenue up 57% year-over-year, with CEO Lisa Su attributing the growth directly to accelerating AI infrastructure demand. OpenAI and Meta have made multi-gigawatt capacity commitments on AMD's MI450 GPU series, underscoring a credible roadmap against Nvidia. Shares pulled back 2.64% to $543.14 on Thursday as TSMC-driven semiconductor sector pressure bled through, but the underlying demand picture remains intact.
