Hi All,
Welcome to our brief overview of portfolio news from the past few days.
Short on time? If you don’t want to read the full report, this infographic gives you the high-level picture of everything that follows.
The AI Chip War Heats Up: Meta Eyes Google TPUs
Reports indicate that Meta is considering spending billions on Google’s Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) for its data centers starting in 2027, with cloud capacity rental potentially beginning as early as 2026. This would be a major strategic shift, validating Google’s ASIC TPUs as a cost-effective alternative to traditional GPUs.
Impact on Google: If Google successfully deploys TPUs directly in customer facilities and penetrates other hyperscalers, it could capture significant market share in AI Infrastructure. Coupled with the positive reception of Gemini 3, this fuels the narrative that Google will be a major long-term AI winner.
Nvidia’s Reaction: Following the report, Nvidia issued a defensive post stating its technology is a “generation ahead” and is the “only platform that runs every AI model.” This rare public defense from the world’s largest company suggests they are actively trying to prevent stock price pullback and acknowledge the competitive threat.
AMD’s Hardware Validated by Major Training Milestone
AMD announced that Zyphra has developed ZAYA1, the first large-scale Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) foundation model trained entirely on AMD’s GPU and networking platform. Using Instinct MI300X GPUs and the ROCm open software stack, the model matched or exceeded the performance of leading models like Llama-3-8B and Gemma3-12B.
This is a critical validation point. It proves that AMD’s hardware is not just theoretical but is executing effectively on production-scale AI workloads, further solidifying its roadmap as a viable alternative to Nvidia.
Autodesk Delivers Strong Beat & Raise
Autodesk delivered excellent Q3’26 results, beating expectations on both the top and bottom lines.
Revenue: $1.855 billion, up 18% YoY (12% excluding the new transaction model).
Billings: $1.853 billion, up 21% YoY (16% excluding the new transaction model).
Margins: Non-GAAP operating margin expanded +100 bps to hit 38% (management targets 41% by FY29).
Guidance: The company raised its full-year revenue outlook to $7.150-$7.165 billion (from $7.025-$7.075B) and non-GAAP operating margin guidance to approximately 37.5%.
Valuation: The company continues to execute flawlessly on its strategy; however, we believe this is fully reflected in the current price. Assuming it hits 30% GAAP EBIT margin (derived from ~40% Non-GAAP margin less ~10% for SBC and amortization) by FY29 on a 10% revenue CAGR, the company trades at 22x FY29 forward EV/EBIT.
Straumann Capital Markets Day: Confidence in Growth
At its Capital Markets Day, Straumann presented its strategic vision for 2026-2030.
Growth Targets: The company aims for a 10% average revenue CAGR and a core EBIT margin expansion of 40-50 basis points per annum.
Market Share: They plan to increase implant market share by mid-single digits (from 35%) and clear aligner share by low double-digits (from 3%).
The revenue targets align with our deep dive model, but the consistent annual margin expansion target is a positive surprise, signaling strong operating leverage ahead.
Other Industry & Portfolio Updates
Amazon’s Massive Capex Continues: Amazon announced a $50 billion data center investment to expand AI capabilities for U.S. government customers (AWS Top Secret/GovCloud) and a separate $15 billion for data centers in Indiana. Big Tech capital expenditure shows no signs of deceleration.
Trump Administration & Nvidia: Reports suggest the Trump administration may permit Nvidia to sell its H200 AI chips to China. If approved, this would unlock a massive, previously restricted market opportunity for both Nvidia and AMD.
Evolution Merger Delay: Evolution AB and Galaxy Gaming have extended the timeline for their merger due to pending regulatory approvals, now expecting it to close in mid-2026 (originally expected to close during the second half of 2025).
That’s a wrap. See you soon.
P.S. On December 4-5, our co-founder Adamos Hadjiantoniou will be joining the FatAlpha online conference to pitch a high-conviction stock idea. If you are interested in seeing the pitch live alongside other investors, tickets are available starting at €99. We’ve set up a discount code STOCKN10 for our readers to get 10% off.