Markets
markets
Claire Yubin Oh

Amkor rises after breaking ground on its new semiconductor packaging campus in Arizona, while increasing investment in the project to $7 billion

Amkor Technology Inc. soared in after-hours trading on Monday after announcing that it was breaking ground on its semiconductor advanced packaging and test plant in Arizona, while also increasing the investment in the facility to a total of $7 billion in collaboration with the US government.

The expanded investment will add an “additional cleanroom space and a second greenfield packaging and test facility,” creating a campus with “over 750,000 square feet of cleanroom space and as many as 3,000 high-quality jobs,” per the company’s press release. The plant will focus on “advanced packaging and testing technologies and will complement TSMC’s front-end wafer fabrication for full end-to-end semiconductor manufacturing.”

Located close to TSMC’s factories in Arizona, the proximity should reduce the need to send US-produced chips back to Asia for the final stages of production.

Amkor’s mega-plant was already set to be one of the most ambitious US-sited semiconductor packaging operations before the expansion, but the latest announcement raises the total project investment by more than $5 billion, backed by the Trump administration’s CHIPS for America Program.

According to the company, the “construction of the first manufacturing facility on the campus is expected to be completed in mid-2027, with production beginning in early 2028.”

Amkor’s mega-plant has already locked in Apple and Nvidia as customers, with Apple’s chief operating officer, Sabih Khan, saying:

“Factories across the United States are producing 19 billion chips for Apple this year alone, and Amkor’s new facility will package and test the Apple silicon produced at TSMC Arizona just down the road. We’re proud to invest in Amkor through Apple’s American Manufacturing Program, which is a key part of our $600 billion commitment to create jobs and accelerate innovation right here in the U.S.”

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Tasha Matsumoto
2h
Stocks dip slightly, crude oil climbs amid conflict with Iran

Despite the largest-ever release of oil from the International Energy Agency’s strategic reserves, crude oil continued to climb.

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markets
Matt Phillips

AI “bottleneck” stocks are the big winners halfway through a tumultuous week

Memory stocks and chip machinery companies are bouncing Wednesday, following a strong Oracle earnings report that bolstered confidence in the durability of the AI data center build-out.

In fact, Sandisk is the top performer of the S&P 500 so far this week, rising more than 21% from Friday’s close, as of shortly after 2 p.m. ET. Memory chip maker Micron is second in line, up more than 13% in weekly gains, and hard disk drive maker Western Digital is also getting a lift.

Other big winners so far this week are some of the so-called semicap shares — makers of the ultraprecise machines that turn silicon into actual semiconductors — with Lam Research and KLA Corp both racking up gains of about 10% on the week. Applied Materials is up about 8% this week.

Thematically speaking, both memory stocks like Sandisk and Micron as well as semicap shares like KLA have been part of the “buy the bottleneck” trade, in which investors buy companies they believe sit at key pinch points in the AI supply chain and therefore have pretty tremendous pricing power. Through that lens, the stocks’ bounce might reflect some additional excitement about the durability of the data center boom after Oracle’s results, which included a larger-than-expected capex number as well as sales guidances that was higher than Wall Street was forecasting.

But the bounce also may be the less interesting market phenomenon of mean reversion rearing its head, as these stocks were also some of the most beaten down in the S&P 500 last week, when Sandisk lost 17% and Lam lost about 15%, for example. So, some snapback may merely be a market reflex.

Oracle jumps after Q3 results exceed expectations, boost to sales guidance

Oracle jumps after Q3 results exceed expectations, boost to sales guidance

Other big winners so far this week are some of the so-called semicap shares — makers of the ultraprecise machines that turn silicon into actual semiconductors — with Lam Research and KLA Corp both racking up gains of about 10% on the week. Applied Materials is up about 8% this week.

Thematically speaking, both memory stocks like Sandisk and Micron as well as semicap shares like KLA have been part of the “buy the bottleneck” trade, in which investors buy companies they believe sit at key pinch points in the AI supply chain and therefore have pretty tremendous pricing power. Through that lens, the stocks’ bounce might reflect some additional excitement about the durability of the data center boom after Oracle’s results, which included a larger-than-expected capex number as well as sales guidances that was higher than Wall Street was forecasting.

But the bounce also may be the less interesting market phenomenon of mean reversion rearing its head, as these stocks were also some of the most beaten down in the S&P 500 last week, when Sandisk lost 17% and Lam lost about 15%, for example. So, some snapback may merely be a market reflex.

markets
Max Knoblauch

Papa John’s spikes following report of a $47-per-share take-private offer from Qatari investment fund Irth Capital

A few weeks after announcing it would close 300 stores by the end of next year, Papa John’s is drawing fresh take-private interest from Irth Capital, an investment fund backed by a member of the Qatari royal family.

Papa John’s shares were up 19% on Wednesday afternoon, on pace for their best day since February 2025.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Irth is offering $47 per share for PZZA, valuing the company at about $1.5 billion. The fund currently holds a roughly 10% stake in Papa John’s, per the report.

Irth has tried to take Papa John’s private before, offering $60 per share in a joint bid with Apollo Global in June of last year. In October, Apollo Global again offered to take the company private at $64 per share. That offer was later withdrawn.

Broadly, the pizza category is being increasingly dominated by Domino’s, which opened 700 stores globally last year and has a market cap 9x greater than Irth’s latest reported offer for Papa John’s.

Exclusive | Papa John’s Draws Fresh Takeover Interest

Exclusive | Papa John’s Draws Fresh Takeover Interest

According to The Wall Street Journal, Irth is offering $47 per share for PZZA, valuing the company at about $1.5 billion. The fund currently holds a roughly 10% stake in Papa John’s, per the report.

Irth has tried to take Papa John’s private before, offering $60 per share in a joint bid with Apollo Global in June of last year. In October, Apollo Global again offered to take the company private at $64 per share. That offer was later withdrawn.

Broadly, the pizza category is being increasingly dominated by Domino’s, which opened 700 stores globally last year and has a market cap 9x greater than Irth’s latest reported offer for Papa John’s.

Jon Keegan
7h
How Oracle is de-risking its AI boom

Oracle released its third-quarter earnings yesterday, and the company is making it clear that its ambitious AI growth is grounded in reality and cold hard cash.

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