Intel reportedly nearing a packaging deal with memory giant SK Hynix

Intel may be on the verge of securing South Korean memory giant SK Hynix as a major customer.

According to ZDNet Korea, SK Hynix is considering using Intel’s technology for packaging its high-bandwidth memory chips together with logic dies.

If realized, this would see Intel build on momentum from reports just days ago in which Apple reached a preliminary agreement for the chipmaker to manufacture Apple silicon in America.

The AI boom has been turning around Intel’s once struggling foundry business, and CPUs (a longtime strength) are experiencing a surge in demand thanks to the compute needs of AI agents.

Supported by the US government (which holds a 10% stake in Intel), the company’s expanding foundry footprint offers a domestic alternative for data center build-outs in a world where floor space is a major constraint.

Shares of Intel have risen over 220% year to date.

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Luke Kawa31m

AI trade keeps roaring with investors “looking for more ways to play offense”

Investors are riding the hot hands.

At the index level Monday’s gain might be nothing to write home about, but it’s shaping up to be a session to remember for the volatile stocks that seemingly don’t stop going up.

Goldman Sachs’ high beta momentum long index is enjoying one of its best days versus SPDR S&P 500 ETF of the year, as of 11:29 a.m. ET.

AI infrastructure and other stocks that support the data center build-out are in full boom mode to kick off the week.

These include:

Memory stocks: Micron, Western Digital, and Seagate Technology Holdings.

No Sandisk so far, but back-from-the-dead Qualcomm is also continuing its recent revival as its CEO joins the group of executives traveling to China with US President Donald Trump.

Data center companies: Nebius, CoreWeave, Applied Digital, and Cipher Digital.

(IREN is left out, presumably because of its convertible note offering!)

Networking firms: Corning, Coherent, soon-to-be new Nasdaq 100 member Lumentum, Applied Optoelectronics, and Credo Technology Group.
Power: Oklo, Bloom Energy, and Plug Power (taking an optimistic interpretation of its tie to the build-out).
The even more speculative fringes: POET Technologies and Navitas Semiconductor.

At the index level, Monday’s gain might be nothing to write home about, but it’s shaping up to be a session to remember for the volatile stocks that seemingly don’t stop going up.

Goldman Sachs’ high-beta momentum long index is enjoying one of its best days versus the SPDR S&P 500 ETF of the year, as of 11:29 a.m. ET.

Brian Garrett of Goldman Sachs describes the price reaction simply: winners are pressing their bets, and losers are being forced to do what the winners have been doing.

“Fundamental long short managers just had their second best weekly alpha in more than 5 years and are now +10.8% on the year... there is solid PnL in the book and investors are looking for more ways to play offense... grabbing for upside seems to be the first move,” he wrote in a note to clients this weekend. “‘Capitulatory stop ins’ was used on the desk this week for asset manager activity... most specifically forced length in AI infrastructure, while using anything non-AI as a source of funds.”

Helena Cheng3h

Constellation Energy rallies as results beat estimates, with Calpine acquisition boosting growth

Shares of Constellation Energy are modestly higher in early trading after the owner of the largest fleet of US nuclear plants reported better-than-expected Q1 results.

The key numbers:

Adjusted operating earnings of $2.74 per share (compared to analyst estimates of $2.53).
Operating revenue of $11.12 billion (estimate: $8.57 billion).

The company also reaffirmed its full-year adjusted operating earnings guidance of $11.00 to $12.00 per share, roughly aligned with the consensus call for $11.53.

Constellation Energy has been racing to meet the voracious power demands of hyperscalers’ data centers, which are central to the AI boom.

This quarter was defined by the finalization of its $16.4 billion Calpine acquisition on January 7, which cemented Constellation’s status as the nation’s largest electricity producer and drove a large year-on-year increase in its sales and operating earnings. To satisfy federal requirements following the merger, the company agreed in March to sell 4.4 gigawatts of natural gas capacity to LS Power for $5 billion.

And as the deal is finalized, Reuters reported that the company is pursuing 1 gigawatt in capacity uprates over the next decade, including a 135-megawatt increase at its Braidwood and Byron Clean Energy Centers in northern Illinois as it prioritizes long-term contracts with hyperscalers.

Investors remain watchful regarding the planned Three Mile Island restart. While central to Constellation’s long-term strategy, recent reports from April 6 suggest that transmission delays and grid bottlenecks could slow the timeline for bringing the plant back online.

Despite today’s earnings beat, the stock has faced some recent volatility, down about 15% year to date.

Helena Cheng4h

Cerebras plans to raise IPO range amid surging AI demand

Cerebras Systems is reportedly considering raising both the size and price range of its IPO because of surging demand for its shares and AI hardware.

The Cerebras IPO has been oversubscribed by more than 20x, prompting the company to raise its proposed IPO range to $150 to $160 a share, up from $115 to $125 a share, while increasing the number of shares marketed to 30 million from 28 million, Reuters reports. At the high end of the revised range, Cerebras could raise around $4.8 billion, up from $3.5 billion.

This surge underscores a massive investor appetite for AI semiconductor plays that offer a credible alternative to Nvidia. Led by Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Barclays, and UBS, the deal positions Cerebras to trade under the symbol CBRS on the Nasdaq.

Cerebras first filed for an IPO in 2024 but pulled that plan last year. Since then, Cerebras has secured clients including Amazon and OpenAI.

The company makes specialized wafer-scale AI chips, designed specifically for AI training and inference. Their flagship product is the Wafer-Scale Engine-3 (WSE-3), the world’s largest and fastest AI chip, holding 4 trillion transistors.

Exclusive: Cerebras to raise IPO price range to $150-$160 as demand surges, sources say

Cerebras first filed for an IPO in 2024 but pulled that plan last year. Since then, Cerebras has secured clients including Amazon and OpenAI.

Rani Molla4h

Alphabet is preparing a Japanese yen bond offering

Having already issued tens of billions of dollars in European, US, and Canadian debt this year, Alphabet is now preparing to tap the Japanese bond market.

While the filing states that the debt is meant to fund “general corporate purposes,” it’s likely that at least some of it will go toward its ballooning $190 billion in capital expenditure this year, as four major tech companies pour a combined $700 billion into capex to build out AI infrastructure.

Though there was no specified value in the filing, Reuters reports the issuance could total several hundred billion yen — 100 billion yen is equal to more than $600 million at current exchange rates.

J. Edward Moreno6h

Lumentum jumps on Nasdaq 100 Index inclusion

Lumentum rose in early trading on Monday after Nasdaq announced on Friday that it would add the optics company to its benchmark index alongside some of the world’s biggest tech companies.

Lumentum makes optical components that use light, rather than traditional copper interconnects, to move data within and between servers in data centers. Its technology is increasingly seen as critical for scaling artificial intelligence capacity.

The stock rose 4.8% in premarket trading by 6 a.m. ET. Shares are up 134% since the start of the year through Friday’s close.

On May 18, it will join the Nasdaq 100 Index, which underpins millions of portfolios. It will replace CoStar Group, a real estate data company.

Lumentum Holdings Inc. to Join the Nasdaq-100 Index® Beginning May 18, 2026