Delos Data announced on September 15 that it raised more than $100 million to develop networking chips and software for increasingly heterogeneous AI data centers, with Playground Global, where former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger is a general partner, joining the round. Reuters reported that Delos is designing its network to work across different types of compute hardware rather than assuming every accelerator comes from Nvidia, a read-through that could benefit AMD even though AMD is not an investor in Delos. Nvidia's advantage rests on a tightly integrated system of accelerators, networking, interconnects and software, and Delos is betting that market becomes less uniform as inference expands, with Gelsinger describing idle compute waiting for data as a major waste of money and energy. The counterargument is that Nvidia already has scale, mature software and networking products customers know work, and a startup with $100 million in financing is attacking an incumbent that spends billions on research and sells the full rack. Insider Monkey tracked 285 hedge funds holding Nvidia in the second quarter, up from 275 in the first, while AMD's holder count climbed to 164 from 134, and AMD had about 41.7 million shares sold short as of August 31, equal to roughly 2.6% of float and 2.5 days to cover.
SMT Jumps 7.63% as Broker Says PER Still Low, Stock Leads Group on AI-Driven Optical Orders
SMT shares surged 7.63%, or 0.45 baht, to 6.35 baht on trading value of 284.40 million baht, leading the electronics group higher across the board. KCE rose 1.49% to 68.00 baht, HANA gained 1.47% to 51.75 baht, DELTA added 1.19% to 255 baht, and CCET climbed 1.12% to 9.05 baht. Yuanta Securities (Thailand) said Star Microelectronics (Thailand) Public Company Limited, or SMT, posted second-quarter 2026 results that clearly reflect a recovery in revenue, capacity utilisation, and margins. The company guided 2026 revenue of no less than 2.6 billion baht and expects growth of more than 10% in 2027, or above 3 billion baht. It sees Optical and OSAT as new growth engines driven by AI. Although AI-related revenue still accounts for less than 5% of current revenue, it has the potential to rise to at least 10% next year. On valuation, the stock currently trades at a PER of about 19 times, significantly below the group's 28 to 58 times. The broker maintained its end-2027 target price of 7.60 baht per share, based on a PER of 25 times, and kept its 2026 normal profit forecast at 150 million baht, a turnaround from a loss of 146 million baht in 2025, before rising to 256 million baht in 2027, up 70% year on year.
US and China Vie for AI Dominance as Pax Silica and WAICO Reach a Fork in the Road
The United States and China are competing for dominance in the race to spread artificial intelligence, accelerating their efforts to build self-centered "AI economic spheres." Late last year, the United States launched Pax Silica, an initiative to build secure supply chains for AI, semiconductors, and critical minerals, and the number of signatory countries and regions, centered on allies and friendly nations such as Japan and the United Kingdom, has grown to 25. In July of this year, China also established the World AI Cooperation Organization, or WAICO, with 29 countries to extend cheap AI models and communications infrastructure across the Global South. Dubbed an "AI version of the Belt and Road," it now has 38 participating countries. The US State Department was reported to have drafted a document asking Pax Silica signatories not to join WAICO, pressuring them to take a loyalty test, but Kazakhstan has joined both, and Uzbekistan, Singapore, and Bangladesh are also exploring "dual participation." The US-China summit on the 24th is likely to be a venue for gauging the future of cooperation and division over AI.
Corning, Qualcomm and Lumentum to Showcase High-Density Optical Chip Links at ECOC 2026
Corning, Qualcomm and Lumentum plan to showcase a high-density die to die optical connectivity solution at ECOC 2026. The joint demo targets AI scale up architectures that require higher bandwidth, lower latency and tighter power budgets for chip interconnects, and the ECOC 2026 presentation will highlight massively parallel optical D2D links paired with high density fiber to support advanced AI data centers. The project taps Corning's existing role supplying fiber and optical technology to large infrastructure buyers rather than representing a completely new line of work, positioning its multimode fiber alongside Qualcomm's interface IP and Lumentum's VCSEL engines. The unresolved piece is commercial proof: the clearest early sign that this direction is working will be whether Corning starts pointing to concrete D2D or co packaged optics wins in its AI focused optical order book or in follow on agreements tied to the 2027 to 2032 style long term fiber deals already in place.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc
NVIDIA Corporation
Intel Corporation