I have already described here several times this year why I think that the SoftBank Group share $9984 (+3,48%) is a top pick when it comes to AI. Now the share price confirms this assumption with an increase of more than 150% since April.

What is the reason for the sharp rise? The answer is short and clear: AI. The reorientation towards everything to do with AI in order to "become the number 1 platform provider for AI" has caused the share price to explode.

So many new projects were announced in 2024/2025 that it was impossible to keep up. The 500 billion dollar Stargate project in the USA and the 40 billion dollar financing round for OpenAI were particularly prominent.

Added to this is a strategic investment of 2 billion dollars in Intel $INTC (+0,68%)the announcement by the portfolio company ARM $ARM (+0,46%) to switch from pure IP licensing to its own chip design, a JV with OpenAI for enterprise AI in Japan, a JV with TempusAI $TEM (+0,66%) for medical AI in Japan, a JV with Intel for the development of energy-efficient memory chips (Saimemory) an IPO of the portfolio company and No. 1 fintech in Japan PayPay in New York, the plan together with NVIDIA $NVDA (+0,19%) to convert the Japanese telecommunications network for AI workloads (AI-RAN), several data centers under construction (independent of Stargate)........ The list could go on and on, but I think the message is clear.

In my opinion, no company is so broadly positioned when it comes to AI. From energy (SoftBank Energy), to the chips used (ARM, Ampere, Graphcore), to the data center as a whole (Stargate, others), to the AI itself (OpenAI) and the AI applications (various). They are active along the entire value chain.

I was also skeptical at first about how to manage all of this at once, also in terms of the sheer amount of work involved, but the first results are becoming visible. SoftBank is building 2 data centers with a capacity of 1.5 GW with OpenAI as part of Stargate. The fact that they are only involved in part of the Stargate data centers and then only with OpenAI is very positive, as I consider the projects on this scale to be very realistic. In addition, there are no conflicts about the technology to be used and SoftBank can clearly favor its portfolio companies in everything.

It will also be interesting to see how the 40 billion financing round progresses. The second half should be invested by the end of the year. With an agreed valuation of 260 billion dollars (plus cash 300), SoftBank should hold around 10% of OpenAI after the financing round. Now that NVIDIA has announced that it will invest 100 billion in OpenAI, although it is still unclear when, how and at what valuation, this is likely to have a massive impact on the value of SoftBank's stake.

The two Vision Funds are also doing well and have recovered from the difficult years. They are now another positive influence on the company's profits. However, they are becoming less and less important as more and more staff are withdrawn from them to work on the AI projects. Fewer new positions are also being added and some older ones are being liquidated.

I am particularly interested in how SoftBank's chip design ambitions will develop over the next few years. Now already in possession of three chip designers (ARM, Ampere Computing and Graphcore), a partnership with Intel (Saimemory) and a strategic stake in the Japanese giga start-up Rapidus, the focus is becoming increasingly visible. How quickly will the restructuring of ARM take shape? Will individual portfolio companies be merged? Will Rapidus, with its impressive interim results, be a success?

These questions will continue to occupy me over the next few years and I will continue to keep a close eye on the milestones achieved so far. The 2030s could definitely be transformative for the SoftBank Group.

Good morning,

Today I actually bought the first tranche of the following shares:

Intel - Arm Holding - Nokia - Pfizer

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$INTC (+0,68%) Nobody believes me, but I actually wanted to buy Intel last week before the significant rise, after the rise I speculated on a setback, which didn't turn out to be so strong and today I simply bought.

Why Intel? What distinguishes Intel from AMD and NVIDIA?

Intel is the only one that develops and also produces itself. Of course, this also entails risks, but it is also the case that Intel is the only non $MU (+0,31%) is the only non-Asian chip manufacturer that has the latest ASML machines. Is that not one of the reasons why even Nvidia is now investing in Intel... By the way, I actually bought Micron today, simply to increase the size of the position.

In my opinion, anyone investing in Intel today should have a lot of patience. As you know, I don't have much of that, so maybe this will be my gym.

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$ARM (+0,46%) Arm develops the Arm architecture for processors, which are particularly efficient and do not require cooling, which is why you find them as standard in smartphones, tablets and other devices, and sells the licenses to Qualcomm, Apple, Samsung and Nvidia, for example.

They are involved in almost all smartphone chips, earning money from the license without having to bear any production costs themselves.

The risks are a very high valuation, in which a lot of growth is already priced in. Strong dependence on the smartphone market, competitors could contest market shares and the company is very dependent on the Asian market.

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$NOKIA (-0,23%) is quite well positioned and a leader in 5G network technology. For example, it controls over 29% of the 5G market outside China and is already in the lead in 6G... The business model is quite cyclical, investment intensive and the technological change is very fast.

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$PFE (+0,25%) has made many strategic acquisitions in recent years. The acquisitions of Seagen and currently Metsera, among others, show that Pfizer is making targeted investments in growing and lucrative therapeutic areas. Whether the pipeline will be successful remains to be seen and is probably one of the greater risks.

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I have mentioned some of the risks, there are probably countless. The stocks fit into my portfolio quite well, as I mainly invest in boring ETFs and the weighting of these individual stocks is too low to significantly jeopardize my basic investment. If things go really badly, the money is gone, if things go reasonably badly, I have dividend stocks 🤪

After my first post on humanoid robots received a lot of positive feedback, I went into more detail. I have subsequently added my favorites in each sector.

Extended analysis of the value chain including shovel manufacturers and potential hidden champions

New categorySecondary key sectors (sales, marketing, financing)

In additionTop 25 companies worldwide, as well as Top 10 Europe and Top 10 Asia

I have also added a video link for beginners. This will give you an idea of how far the development of humanoid robotics has already progressed.

https://www.stern.de/panorama/wissen/humanoider-roboter---wie-reagiert-er-auf-beleidigungen--35996156.html

Thank you for your attention and your support 🙏

🌐 1. value chain of humanoid robots (with hidden champions)

1. research & chip design

$ARM (+0,46%) ARM (UK) - CPU-IP, energy-efficient processors

$SNPS (-0,14%) Synopsys (US) - EDA software, chip design

$CDNS (+0,61%) Cadence (US) - EDA & Simulation

$PTC PTC (US) - Engineering Software, CAD/PLM

$DSY (-0,98%) Dassault Systèmes (FR) - 3D Design & Digital Twin

$SIE (-0,31%) Siemens (DE) - Industrial Software & Lifecycle Mgmt

$ADBE (+0,1%) Adobe (US) - Design, AR/UX

ANSYS (US) - multiphysical simulation - acquisition by Synopsis

Altair (US) - CAE, simulation, digital twin - acquisition by Siemens

$HXGBY (+0,96%)
Hexagon (SE) - Metrology & Simulation

$AWE (-0,57%) Alphawave IP Group (UK) - High-speed chip IP for AI/robotics

1.Synopsis, 2.Siemens and 3.Adobe are my top 3 in this sector

2. manufacturing technology & equipment

$ASML (+0,25%) ASML (NL) - Lithography (EUV)

$AMAT (+1,64%) Applied Materials (US) - Semiconductor equipment

$8035 (+2,81%) Tokyo Electron (JP) - wafer fabrication

$KEYS (+0,06%) Keysight Technologies (US) - Metrology

$6857 (+4,4%) Advantest (JP) - Chip test systems

$TER (+0,42%) Teradyne (US) - test systems + cobots

$6954 (+2,54%) Fanuc (JP) - Industrial robots, CNC

$CAT (+0,36%) Caterpillar (US) - autonomous machines

$KU2G KUKA (DE) - industrial robots

Comau (IT) - automation - not listed on the stock exchange

$ROK Rockwell Automation (US) - industrial automation

$JBL (-0,54%) Jabil (US) - contract manufacturing (EMS/ODM)

$KIT (-1,22%) Kitron (NO) - European EMS/ODM manufacturer

$AIXA (-0,66%) Aixtron (DE) - deposition equipment for compound semiconductors

$LRCX (+0,86%)
Lam Research (US) - Etch/deposition systems

$MKSI (-0,17%)
MKS Instruments (US) - Plasma/vacuum technology

$ASM (+0,09%)
ASM International (NL) - Deposition systems

1.ASML, 2.Keysight Technologies, 3.Fanuc are my top 3 in this sector

3. chip manufacturing (foundries)

$TSM (+1,42%) TSMC (TW) - leading foundry

$005930 Samsung Electronics (KR) - foundry + memory

$GFS (-0,51%) GlobalFoundries (US) - specialty chips

$INTC (+0,68%)
Intel Foundry Services (US) - new western foundry player

$981
SMIC (CN) - largest Chinese foundry

$UMC
UMC (TW) - Power/RF/Embedded chips

1.TSMC, 2.Intel, 3.Samsung Electronics are my top 3 in this sector

4. computing & control unit ("brain")

$NVDA (+0,19%) Nvidia (US) - GPUs, AI chips

$INTC (+0,68%) Intel (US) - CPUs, FPGAs

$AMD (+0,03%) AMD (US) - CPUs, GPUs

$MRVL (-0,08%) Marvell (US) - network chips

$MU (+0,31%) Micron (US) - Memory

$DELL (+0%) Dell Technologies (US) - Edge & Infrastructure

Graphcore (UK) - AI chips (IPU) - not a listed company

Cerebras (US) - Wafer-scale engine - not a listed company

SiPearl (FR) - European HPC chip - not a listed company

1.Nvidia, 2.Marvell, 3.Micron are my top 3 in this sector

5. sensors ("senses")

$6758 (+1,5%) Sony (JP) - image sensors

$6861 (+1,13%) Keyence (JP) - Industrial sensors

$STM (-0,81%) STMicroelectronics (FR/IT) - Sensors, MCUs

$TDY Teledyne (US) - optical/infrared sensors

$CGNX (+0,59%) Cognex (US) - Machine Vision

$HON (-0,46%) Honeywell (US) - sensor technology, security

ANYbotics (CH) - autonomous sensor fusion - not a listed company

$AMBA (-0,16%) Ambarella (US) - video & computer vision SoCs for real-time image recognition

$OUST
Velodyne Lidar (US) - Lidar sensors - acquisition by Ouster

$AMS (+0,49%)
-OSRAM (AT/DE) - optical sensors

1.Teledyne, 2.Keyence, 3.Ouster are my top 3 in this sector

6. actuators & power electronics ("muscles")

$IFX (-0,87%) Infineon (DE) - Power Electronics

$ON (+1,03%) onsemi (US) - Power & Sensors

$TXN (+0,26%) Texas Instruments (US) - Mixed-Signal Chips

$ADI (+0,47%) Analog Devices (US) - Signal Processing

$PH Parker-Hannifin (US) - Hydraulics/Pneumatics

$MP (+1,82%) MP Materials (US) - Magnets

$APH (-0,14%) Amphenol (US) - Connectors

$6481 (+0,86%) THK (JP) - Linear guides & actuators

$6324 (+3,63%)
Harmonic Drive (JP) - Precision gears & servo drives for robotics

$6594 (+0,51%)
Nidec (JP) - Electric motors

$6506 (+8,48%)
Yaskawa (JP) - Drives & Robotics

$SU (-0,83%)
Schneider Electric (FR) - Energy & control solutions

$ZIL2 (+0%)
ElringKlinger (DE) - Battery & fuel cell technology, lightweight construction

1.Parker-Hannifin, 2.MP Materials, 3.Infinion are my top 3 in this sector

7. communication & networking ("nerves")

$QCOM (-0,19%) Qualcomm (US) - mobile communications, edge AI

$ANET (+0,97%) Arista Networks (US) - Networks

$CSCO (-0,68%) Cisco (US) - Networks, Security

$EQIX (+0,5%) Equinix (US) - Data centers

NTT Docomo (JP) - 5G/6G carrier - not a listed company

$VZ Verizon (US) - Telecommunications

$SFTBY SoftBank (JP) - Carrier + Robotics

$ERIC B (-0,29%)
Ericsson (SE) - 5G/IoT infrastructure

$NOKIA (-0,23%)
Nokia (FI) - 5G/6G for industry

$HPE (+0,01%)
Juniper Networks (US) - Network technology - acquisition by HP

1.Arista Networks, 2.SoftBank, 3.Cisco are my top 3 in this sector

8. energy supply

$3750 (-0,59%) CATL (CN) - Batteries

$6752 (+6,59%) Panasonic (JP) - Batteries

$373220 LG Energy (KR) - Batteries

$ALB (+1,07%) Albemarle (US) - Lithium

$LYC (+4%) Lynas (AU) - Rare earths

$UMICY (-0,54%) Umicore (BE) - Recycling

WiTricity (US) - inductive charging - not a listed company

$ABBN (+0,62%) Charging (CH) - charging infrastructure

$SLDP
Solid Power (US) - Solid-state batteries

Northvolt (SE) - European batteries - not a listed company

$PLUG
Plug Power (US) - fuel cells

$KULR (+4,91%)
KULR Technology (US) - Thermal management & battery safety for mobile systems

1.Albemarle, 2.CATL, 3.Panasonic are my top 3 in this sector

9. cloud & infrastructure

$AMZN (+0,28%) Amazon AWS (US) - Cloud, AI

$MSFT (-0,27%) Microsoft Azure (US) - Cloud, AI

$GOOG (-0,61%) Alphabet Google Cloud (US) - Cloud, ML

$VRT
Vertiv Holdings (US) - Data center infrastructure (UPS, cooling, edge)

$ORCL (-0,06%)
Oracle Cloud (US) - ERP + Cloud

$IBM (+0,02%)
IBM Cloud (US) - Hybrid cloud + AI

$OVH (-1,8%)
OVHcloud (FR) - European cloud

1.Alphabet, 2.Microsoft, 3.Oracle are my top 3 in this sector

10. software & data platforms

$PLTR (-0,55%) Palantir (US) - Data integration

$DDOG (+0,54%) Datadog (US) - Monitoring

$SNOW (+0,57%) Snowflake (US) - Data Cloud

$ORCL (-0,06%) Oracle (US) - Databases, ERP

$SAP (-0,77%) SAP (DE) - ERP systems

$SPGI S&P Global (US) - financial/market data

ROS2 Foundation - robotics middleware - not listed on the stock exchange

$NVDA (+0,19%) NVIDIA Isaac (US) - robotics development - part of Nvidia

$INOD (+2,31%) Innodata (US) - data annotation & AI training data

$PATH (+0,8%)
UiPath (RO/US) - Robotic process automation

$AI (+0,5%)
C3.ai (US) - AI platform

$ESTC (-0,49%)
(NL/US) - Search & data analysis

1.S&P Global, 2.Palantir, 3.Datadog are my top 3 in this sector

11. end applications / robots

$ABBN (+0,62%) ABB (CH/SE) - Industrial Robots

$6954 (+2,54%) Fanuc (JP) - Industrial robots

$TSLA (+0,66%) Tesla Optimus (US) - humanoid robot

$9618 (+0,13%) JD.com (CN) - logistics robot

$AAPL (-1,39%) Apple (US) - Platform & UX

$700 (-0,37%) Tencent (CN) - Platform & AI

$9988 (+0,66%) Alibaba (CN) - logistics & platform

PAL Robotics (ES) - humanoid robots - not a listed company

Neura Robotics (DE) - cognitive humanoid robots - not a listed company

$TER (+0,42%) Universal Robots (DK) - cobots - belongs to the Teradyne Corporation

Engineered Arts (UK) - humanoid robots - not a listed company

$ISRG (+0,17%) Intuitive Surgical (US) - surgical robotics

$GMED (+0,6%)
Globus Medical (US) - surgical robotics (ExcelsiusGPS platform)

$7012 (-1,49%) Kawasaki Heavy Industries (JP) - industrial robots, automation

$CPNG (-0,2%) Coupang (KR) - Logistics end user

$IRBT (+1,39%)
iRobot (US) - consumer robotics (e.g. Roomba), non-humanoid, but navigation/sensor fusion

Boston Dynamics (US) - humanoid & mobile robots-no listed company

Hanson Robotics (HK) - humanoid robots (Sophia) - not a listed company

Agility Robotics (US) - humanoid robot "Digit" - not a listed company

1.Apple, 2.Tencent, 3.Alibaba are my top 3 in this sector

🛠 2. cross enablers (shovel manufacturers) - with hidden champions

Raw materials & battery materials

Albemarle - Lynas - Umicore

$SQM
SQM (CL) - Lithium

$ILU (+5,81%)
Iluka Resources (AU) - Rare earths

$ARR (-0,42%)
American Rare Earths (US/AU) - New supply chains

my number 1 in the sector is Albemarle

manufacturing technology

ASML - Applied Materials - Tokyo Electron

$LRCX (+0,86%)
Lam Research (US) - Plasma/etching processes

$ASM (+0,09%)
ASM International (NL) - ALD equipment

$MKSI (-0,17%)
MKS Instruments (US) - Plasma/vacuum technology

my number 1 in the sector is ASML

Quality assurance

Keysight - Advantest - Teradyne

$EMR (-0,11%)
National Instruments (US) - Measurement technology - from Emerson Electric adopted

$300567
ATE Test Systems (CN) - test systems

$FORM (+0,6%)
FormFactor (US) - Wafer probing

my number 1 in the sector is Keysight

Motion & Drive

Parker-Hannifin

Festo (DE) - Pneumatics, Soft Robotics - not a listed company

Bosch Rexroth (DE) - Drives, Controls - not a listed company

$6481 (+0,86%)
THK (JP) - Linear guides

my number 1 in the sector is Parker-Hannifin

Sensors/Imaging

$TDY Teledyne

$BSL (-4,5%) Basler (DE) - Industrial cameras

FLIR (US) - Thermal imaging sensors - acquisition by Teledyne

ISRA Vision (DE) - Machine Vision - not a listed company

my number 1 in the sector is Teledyne

Magnets & Materials

MP Materials

$6501 (+5,54%)
Hitachi Metals (JP) - Magnetic materials

VacuumSchmelze (DE) - Magnetic materials - not a listed company

$4063 (+3,25%)
Shin-Etsu Chemical (JP) - Specialty materials

my number 1 in the sector is MP Materials

Chip Design & Simulation

Synopsys - Cadence - ARM

$SIE (-0,31%)
Siemens EDA (DE/US)-Mentor Graphics-strategic business unit of Siemens AG

Imagination Tech (UK) - GPU-IP - not a listed company

$CEVA (+0,83%)
CEVA (IL) - Signal Processor IP

my number 1 in the sector is Synopsys

Engineering & Lifecycle

PTC - Dassault - Siemens

Altair (US) - Simulation - no longer a listed company

$HXGBY (+0,96%)
Hexagon (SE) - Metrology

$SNPS (-0,14%)
ANSYS (US) - Simulation - takeover by Synopsys

my number 1 in the sector is Siemens

Networks & Data Centers

Arista - Cisco - Equinix

$HPE (+0,01%)
Juniper (US) - Networks - Acquisition of HPE

$DTE (+0,1%)
T-Systems (DE) - Industry cloud

$OVH (-1,8%)
OVHcloud (FR) - European cloud

my number 1 in the sector is Arista

Cloud infrastructure

AWS - Azure - Google Cloud

$ORCL (-0,06%)
Oracle Cloud (US) - ERP & databases

$IBM (+0,02%)
IBM Cloud (US) - Hybrid Cloud

$9988 (+0,66%)
Alibaba Cloud (CN) - Asian Cloud

$VRT
Vertiv Holdings (US) - Cloud/Infra

my number 1 in the sector is Alphabet (Google)

finance/information infra

S&P Global

$MCO (-0,19%)
Moody's (US) - Ratings

$MSCI (-0,24%)
MSCI (US) - Indices

$MORN
Morningstar (US) - Investment Research

my number 1 in the sector is S&P Global

Creative/Experience Infra

Adobe

$ADSK (-0,01%)
Autodesk (US) - CAD & Design

$U
Unity (US) - 3D/AR simulation

Epic Games (US) - Unreal Engine - not a listed company

my number 1 in the sector is Adobe

Platform & Ecosystem

Apple - Tencent - Alibaba

$META (+0,06%)
Meta (US) - AR/VR, Social Robotics

ByteDance (CN) - AI & platforms - not a listed company

$9888 (+0,91%)
Baidu (CN) - AI & Cloud

my number 1 in the sector is Tencent

Infrastructure/Edge

Dell

$HPE (+0,01%)
HPE (US) - Edge Computing

$SMCI
Supermicro (US) - AI servers

$6702 (+5,04%)
Fujitsu (JP) - Edge & HPC

my number 1 in the sector is Dell

storage solutions

Micron

$HY9H
SK Hynix (KR) - Memory

$285A (+12,5%)
Kioxia (JP) - NAND

$WDC
Western Digital (US) - Storage solutions

my number 1 in the sector is Micron

🏛 3. secondary key sectors with hidden champions

Financing & Capital

$GS (-0,09%) Goldman Sachs (US) - investment bank; ECM/DCM, M&A, growth financing

$MS Morgan Stanley (US) - investment bank; tech banking, capital markets

$BLK (+0,03%) BlackRock (US) - asset manager; capital allocation, ETFs/index funds

$9984 (+3,48%) SoftBank Vision Fund (JP) - mega VC; growth equity in robotics/AI

Sequoia Capital (US) - venture capital; early/growth in AI/robotics - this is a classic venture capital fund

DARPA (US) - government R&D funding (robotics/defense) - independent research and development agency

EU Horizon (EU) - research funding/grants for DeepTech - Innovative Europe pillar

China State Funds (CN) - state industry/technology fund

Lux Capital (US) - VC for DeepTech - Uptake (US) - AI-based predictive maintenance

DCVC (US) - Robotics & AI focus - investing exclusively via VC fund investments

Speedinvest (AT) - EU VC for robotics - access to investment only via fund investments

my number 1 in the sector is Softbank

Maintenance & Service

$SIE (-0,31%) Siemens (DE) - Industrial Service, Lifecycle & Retrofit

$ABBN (+0,62%) ABB (CH/SE) - Robotics Service, Spare Parts, Field Support

$GEHC (+0,06%) GE Healthcare (US) - Medtech service incl. robotic systems

Uptake (US) - AI-based predictive maintenance - not a listed company

Augury (US/IL) - condition monitoring, condition diagnostics - not a listed company

$KU2 KUKA Service (DE) - Robotics maintenance

$6954 (+2,54%) Fanuc Service (JP) - global service network

Boston Dynamics AI Institute (US) - Robotics longevity - funded by Hyundai Motor Group

my number 1 in the sector is Siemens

Marketing & Advertising

$WPP (+0,24%) WPP (UK) - global advertising group; branding/communications

$OMC Omnicom (US) - marketing/PR network

$PUB (-0,33%) Publicis (FR) - communications/advertising group

$META (+0,06%) Meta (US) - Digital Ads (Facebook/Instagram)

$GOOG (-0,61%) Google Ads (US) - search & display advertising

TikTok / ByteDance (CN) - social ads & distribution - not a listed company

$AAPL (-1,39%) Apple (US) - Branding/UX; Acceptance & Platform Marketing

$WPP (+0,24%)
AKQA (UK/US) - Tech branding - Since 2012 majority owned by the WPP Groupbut continues to operate as an autonomous operating unit

R/GA (US) - Innovation marketing - not a listed company

Serviceplan (DE) - largest independent EU agency - not a listed company

my number 1 in the sector is Meta

Law, Regulation & Ethics

ISO (CH) - international standards, robotics standards

TÜV (DE) - certification & safety tests

UL (US) - safety/conformity testing

EU AI Act (EU) - legal framework for AI & robotics

UNESCO AI Ethics (UN) - global ethics guidelines

Fraunhofer IPA (DE) - Robotics safety standards

ANSI (US) - standards

IEC (CH) - Electrical engineering standards

Training & Talent

MIT (US) - Robotics/AI Research & Education

ETH Zurich (CH) - autonomous systems & robotics

Stanford (US) - AI/Robotics labs & spin-offs

Tsinghua University (CN) - Robotics/AI in Asia

CMU (US) - Robotics Institute

EPFL (CH) - Robotics research

TU Munich (DE) - humanoid robot "Roboy"

🌍 Top 25 companies for humanoid robotics

These companies are central to the development & production of humanoid robotsbecause without them, crucial parts of the chain would be missing:

Chips & computing power (brain of the robots)

$NVDA (+0,19%) Nvidia (US) - AI GPUs & Isaac platform, foundation for robotic AI

$2330 TSMC (TW) - world's most important foundry, produces the AI chips

$ASML (+0,25%) ASML (NL) - EUV lithography, indispensable for chip production

$005930 Samsung Electronics (KR) - memory, logic, foundry

$HY9H SK Hynix (KR) - DRAM & NAND memory for AI

$MU (+0,31%) Micron (US) - Memory solutions for AI workloads

my number 1 in the sector is ASML

Sensors & perception (senses of robots)

$SONY Sony (JP) - image sensors, market leader

$6861 (+1,13%) Keyence (JP) - Industrial sensors & vision systems

$CGNX (+0,59%) Cognex (US) - Machine Vision, precise image processing

my number 1 in the sector is Keyence

Actuators & motion (muscles of robots)

$IFX (-0,87%) Infineon (DE) - power electronics, motor control

$6594 (+0,51%) Nidec (JP) - World market leader for electric motors

$PH Parker-Hannifin (US) - hydraulics/pneumatics, motion technology

$6481 (+0,86%) THK (JP) - Linear guides & actuators

my number 1 in the sector is Parker-Hannifin

Communication, cloud & infrastructure (nerves & data flow)

$QCOM (-0,19%) Qualcomm (US) - Mobile & Edge Chips

$AMZN (+0,28%) Amazon AWS (US) - Cloud & AI infrastructure

$MSFT (-0,27%) Microsoft Azure (US) - Cloud, AI services

$CSCO (-0,68%) Cisco (US) - Networks & Security

$VRT Vertiv Holdings (US) - Data Center Infrastructure

my number 1 in the sector is Microsoft

End Applications & Platforms (robots themselves)

$TSLA (+0,66%) Tesla (US) - humanoid robot Optimus

$ABBN (+0,62%) ABB (CH/SE) - Robotics & Automation

$6954 (+2,54%) Fanuc (JP) - industrial robots & CNC systems

$7012 (-1,49%) Kawasaki Heavy Industries (JP) - industrial robots

PAL Robotics (ES) - humanoid robots (TALOS, ARI, TIAGo) - not a listed company

Neura Robotics (DE) - cognitive humanoid robots - not a listed company

Universal Robots (DK) - cobots

my number 1 in the sector is Tesla

🇪🇺 Top 10 European key companies for humanoid robotics

$ASML (+0,25%)
ASML (NL)

World market leader in EUV lithography - no modern chips for AI & robotics without ASML.

$IFX (-0,87%) Infineon (DE)

Leading in power electronics & motor control - crucial for actuators of humanoid robots.

$STM (-0,81%)
STMicroelectronics (FR/IT)

Sensors, microcontrollers & power chips - the basis for control & perception.

$SAP (-0,77%)
SAP (DE)

ERP & data platforms, important for integrating humanoid robots into industrial processes.

$SIE (-0,31%)
Siemens (DE)

Industrial software, automation, digital twin - key for engineering & lifecycle management.

$KU2 KUKA (EN)

Robotics pioneer, industrial robots & automation - know-how for humanoid motion mechanics.

PAL Robotics (ES) - not a listed company

Specialist for humanoid robots (TALOS, ARI, TIAGo), internationally used in research & service.

Neura Robotics (DE) - Not a listed company

Young high-tech company, develops cognitive humanoid robots with advanced AI (4NE-1).

Universal Robots (DK) - Not a listed company

Market leader for cobots - platform for safe human-robot collaboration.

Engineered Arts (UK) - not a listed company

Develops humanoid robots such as Amecaknown for realistic facial expressions & gestures - important for HRI (Human-Robot Interaction)

🌏 Top 10 Asian key companies for humanoid robotics

$2330
TSMC (Taiwan)

World's largest semiconductor foundry, produces high-end chips (e.g. Nvidia, AMD, Apple) - no AI hardware without TSMC.

$005930
Samsung Electronics (South Korea)

Foundry, memory, logic chips, image sensors - extremely broadly positioned in robotics components.

$HY9H
SK Hynix (KR) - Memory

$SONY
Sony (Japan)

Market leader in CMOS image sensors, essential for robotic vision & perception.

$6861 (+1,13%)
Keyence (Japan)

Sensor technology & machine vision for industrial automation, widely used in robotics.

$6954 (+2,54%)
Fanuc (Japan)

Industrial robots & CNC systems, one of the most important manufacturers of robotics hardware worldwide.

$6506 (+8,48%)
Yaskawa Electric (Japan)

Drives, motion control & robot arms - relevant for humanoid motion control.

$6594 (+0,51%)
Nidec (Japan)

World market leader for electric motors (from mini motors to high-performance drives).

$7012 (-1,49%)
Kawasaki Heavy Industries (JP) - Industrial robots

$9618 (+0,13%)
JD.com (China)

Driver for robotics in e-commerce & logistics, invests in humanoid robotics applications

The hype is all about humanoid robots, but the constant winners are in the background.

I have divided the analysis into two perspectives. 1. the complete value chain of humanoid robots, which shows all the players from the chip to the finished robot, and 2. the blade manufacturers in the background, who always earn money as enablers, regardless of which manufacturer wins the race.

ASML, Applied Materials and Tokyo Electron dominate in manufacturing technology. Quality assurance comes from Keysight, Advantest and Teradyne. Chip design is supported by Synopsys, Cadence and ARM. Data streams are secured by Arista Networks, Cisco and Equinix. The computing basis is created in the cloud by Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet. Albemarle, Lynas and Umicore play a central role in raw materials and battery materials. These companies monetize their customers' investment waves, have high barriers to entry, service revenues and pricing power, but remain cyclical with risks from export rules, capex cuts and currency movements.

🌐 Value chain of humanoid robots Sector overview

1. research & chip design (IP / EDA)

$ARM (+0,46%)
ARM Holdings (ARM, UK/USA) - CPU architectures

$SNPS (-0,14%)
Synopsys (SNPS, USA) - Chip design software

$CDNS (+0,61%)
Cadence Design Systems (CDNS, USA) - EDA & Simulation

2. manufacturing technology & equipment

$ASML (+0,25%)
ASML (ASML, NL) - EUV lithography, key monopoly

$AMAT (+1,64%)
Applied Materials (AMAT, USA) - Process equipment

$8035 (+2,81%)
Tokyo Electron (8035.T, JP) - Wafer equipment

$KEYS (+0,06%)
Keysight Technologies (KEYS, USA) - Test & RF measurement technology

$6857 (+4,4%)
Advantest (6857.T, JP) - Semiconductor test systems

$TER (+0,42%)
Teradyne (TER, USA) - Test systems + robotics (Universal Robots)

3. chip production (Foundries)

$TSM (+1,42%)
TSMC (TSM, TW) - Largest contract manufacturer

$005930
Samsung Electronics (005930.KQ, KR) - Memory + Foundry

$GFS (-0,51%)
GlobalFoundries (GFS, USA) - Specialized production

4. computing & control unit ("brain")

$NVDA (+0,19%)
Nvidia (NVDA, USA) - GPUs, AI accelerators

$INTC (+0,68%)
Intel (INTC, USA) - CPUs, FPGAs

$AMD (+0,03%)
AMD (AMD, USA) - CPUs/GPUs

$MRVL (-0,08%)
Marvell Technology (MRVL, USA) - Network/data center chips

5. sensors ("senses")

$6758 (+1,5%)
Sony (6758.T, JP) - CMOS image sensors

$6861 (+1,13%)
Keyence (6861.T, JP) - Vision systems, sensors

$STM (-0,81%)
STMicroelectronics (STM, CH/FR) - MEMS sensors

6. actuators & power electronics ("muscles")

$IFX (-0,87%)
Infineon (IFX, DE) - Power semiconductors, SiC

$ON (+1,03%)
N Semiconductor (ON, USA) - SiC/Power Chips

$STM (-0,81%)
STMicroelectronics (STM, CH/FR) - Motor control & power

$TXN (+0,26%)
Texas Instruments (TXN, USA) - Motor control, power ICs

$ADI (+0,47%)
Analog Devices (ADI, USA) - Energy & BMS chips

7. communication & networking ("nerves")

$QCOM (-0,19%)
Qualcomm (QCOM, USA) - 5G/SoCs

$AVGO (+0,48%)
Broadcom (AVGO, USA) - Network & radio chips

$SWKS (-0,16%)
Skyworks Solutions (SWKS, USA) - RF components

8. energy supply

$300750
CATL (300750.SZ, CN) - Batteries

$6752 (+6,59%)
Panasonic (6752.T, JP) - Batteries for automotive/robotics

$373220
LG Energy Solution (373220.KQ, KR) - Batteries

9. cloud & infrastructure

$AMZN (+0,28%)
Amazon (AMZN, USA) - AWS

$MSFT (-0,27%)
Microsoft (MSFT, USA) - Azure

$GOOG (-0,61%)
Alphabet (GOOGL, USA) - Google Cloud

$EQIX (+0,5%)
Equinix (EQIX, USA) - Data center operator

$ANET (+0,97%)
Arista Networks (ANET, USA) - Network infrastructure

$CSCO (-0,68%)
Cisco Systems (CSCO, USA) - Edge & Data Center Networks

10. software & data platforms

$PLTR (-0,55%)
Palantir (PLTR, USA) - Data integration, decision software

$DDOG (+0,54%)
Datadog (DDOG, USA) - Cloud monitoring / observability

$SNOW (+0,57%)
Snowflake (SNOW, USA) - Cloud-native data platform

$ORCL (-0,06%)
Oracle (ORCL, USA) - Databases, ERP

$SAP (-0,77%)
SAP (SAP, DE) - ERP/cloud systems

$PATH (+0,8%)
UiPath (PATH, USA) - Automation software (RPA)

$AI (+0,5%)
C3.ai (AI, USA) - Enterprise AI platform

11. end applications / robots

$ABB
ABB (ABB, CH) - Industrial robots

$6954 (+2,54%)
Fanuc (6954.T, JP) - Industrial robots, CNC

$TSLA (+0,66%)
Tesla (TSLA, USA) - Optimus" humanoid robot

$9618 (+0,13%)
JD.com (JD, CN) - E-commerce & automated logistics

🛠️ Shovel manufacturer for humanoid robots

🔹 Hardtech (physical "shovels")

These companies provide the material basis: manufacturing machines, raw materials, semiconductor base.

Semiconductor Equipment & Manufacturing

$ASML (+0,25%)
ASML (ASML, NL) - EUV lithography (monopoly).

$AMAT (+1,64%)
Applied Materials (AMAT, USA) - Wafer equipment.

$8035 (+2,81%)
Tokyo Electron (8035.T, JP) - Process equipment.

Test systems (hardware-side)

$6857 (+4,4%)
Advantest (6857.T, JP) - Semiconductor test.

$TER (+0,42%)
Teradyne (TER, USA) - Test systems + industrial robots.

Materials & raw materials

$ALB (+1,07%)
Albemarle (ALB, USA) - Lithium (batteries).

$LYC (+4%)
Lynas Rare Earths (LYC.AX, AUS) - Rare earths for magnets.

$UMICY (-0,54%)
Umicore (UMI.BR, BE) - Cathode materials, recycling.

🔹 Soft/infra (digital "shovels")

These companies supply the infrastructure & toolswithout which development, training and operation would be impossible.

Design Software & IP

$SNPS (-0,14%)
Synopsys (SNPS, USA) - EDA software.

$CDNS (+0,61%)
Cadence Design Systems (CDNS, USA) - Chip design & simulation.

$ARM (+0,46%)
ARM Holdings (ARM, UK/USA) - CPU architectures (license model).

Test & Measurement (software/signal level)

$KEYS (+0,06%)
Keysight Technologies (KEYS, USA) - Electronics & RF test systems.

Network & data center backbone

$ANET (+0,97%)
Arista Networks (ANET, USA) - High-speed networks.

$CSCO (-0,68%)
Cisco Systems (CSCO, USA) - Data center/edge networks.

$EQIX (+0,5%)
Equinix (EQIX, USA) - Data centers (colocation).

Cloud infrastructure

$AMZN (+0,28%)
Amazon (AMZN, USA) - AWS (cloud, AI training).

$MSFT (-0,27%)
Microsoft (MSFT, USA) - Azure.

$GOOG (-0,61%)
Alphabet (GOOGL, USA) - Google Cloud.

Takeaway: Investing in the infrastructure stack allows you to participate in the robotics trend regardless of the subsequent product winner and reduces the individual product risk, but you have to live with cycles. In your opinion, which stage of the chain offers the best risk/return combination and fits into a disciplined portfolio?

Source: Own analysis based on publicly available company information and IR materials of the companies mentioned.

Image material: Techa Tungateja/iStockphoto

$NVDA (+0,19%)
$ARM (+0,46%)
$9984 (+3,48%)

Anyone who thought that NVIDIA would continue to cuddle up in its wedding bed with ARM while secretly displacing AMD GPUs must have missed the clattering in the RISC-V workshop. Because what has been quietly announced here is nothing less than a seismic tremor in the foundations of the AI infrastructure: CUDA is now running on RISC-V processors. This is not just a technical curiosity, but a strategic broadside against the architecture duopolists x86 and ARM. And exactly where it hurts the most, in the heart of the AI power centers: data centers, edge computing and AI accelerator solutions.

What happened?

RISC-V happily announces that NVIDIA's CUDA, the undisputed control center for GPU-based AI computing, now runs on RISC-V-based host processors. Anyone who thinks this is a clumsy port for hobbyists is very much mistaken: this is an official NVIDIA free pass for the open source architecture, coupled with the license for integration into professional AI workloads. In technical terms, this means that RISC-V can function as a system processor in CUDA-based AI setups in future. The GPU part remains with NVIDIA, but the control? From now on, it can do without Intel, AMD or ARM.

What's behind this?

License-free ISA = more margin, more control

RISC-V is free - and in a world where ARM wanted to be taken over by NVIDIA (and failed), that's a poisoned offer: complete freedom without license fees. Perfect for start-ups, China and anyone who is fed up with Western-priced license models.

Scalability without ballast

The modular structure of RISC-V allows you to build exactly what you need - no more and no less. No unnecessary silicon ballast, no incompatible license clutter.

Entry ticket to new markets

Edge AI, dedicated AI SoCs, scientific data centers - wherever ARM or x86 are used today, there could be a RISC-V variant with CUDA support tomorrow. With the Wormhole n150/n300, Tenstorrent, for example, shows what happens when you put a RISC-V kit in Jim Keller's hands.

Why this is explosive

For Intel & AMD: You lose the last bastion - control via the host CPU. The GPU belongs to NVIDIA anyway. Now they are also losing the processor share in the AI market.

For ARM: The long-held narrative of the "energy-efficient future of servers" is being dented. If even NVIDIA, once almost the owner of ARM, is now embracing RISC-V, you can imagine how much trust there still is in SoftBank & Co.

For China: Jackpot. RISC-V is open, free, developer-friendly - and now also CUDA-compatible. Who still needs Western CPUs when their own SoC will soon be fully AI-capable?

NVIDIA: The laughing third

You could almost applaud: NVIDIA is securing control of the software ecosystem (CUDA) while strategically emancipating itself from hardware partners. The host processor? Interchangeable. The GPU? Stays green. It's brilliantly opportunistic - and a quiet but effective form of platform cannibalization.

What remains critical?

RISC-V is open, but not finished. Toolchains, debugging, compilers, OS support - all this is still lagging behind the industrialized ARM/x86 world. Furthermore, as long as CUDA runs on NVIDIA hardware, the golden cage remains - except that the grids are now made of RISC-V.

The first real break with the architectural monopoly

What we are seeing here is not a technical gimmick, but a strategic bang. With CUDA, RISC-V gains access to one of the most important AI ecosystems in the world. ARM and x86 are losing their exclusivity in the most lucrative technology field of the decade. And NVIDIA? Taking the opportunity to finally become the center of the AI world - regardless of the processor substructure.

Source: RISK_V via X

https://www.igorslab.de/cuda-auf-risc-v-nvidias-stiller-dolchstoss-gegen-das-x86-arm-kartell/

$QCOM (-0,19%) . $MSFT (-0,27%)
$ARM (+0,46%)

The next generation of Xbox games consoles is to be based on an ARM processor from Qualcomm's Snapdragon series, according to a job advertisement from Microsoft for the position of sales manager.

The next generation of Xbox game consoles, which will follow on from the Xbox Series X and Series S released in November 2020, will be based on an ARM processor from Qualcomm's Snapdragon series, according to a job advertisement from Microsoft for the position of Sales Manager for new Surface and Xbox series products. This information comes from well-known industry insider Brad Sams from software developer Stardock.

In his latest YouTube video, Brad Sams, who works for Stardock Corporation, a software developer for Windows applications founded in 1991, goes into more detail about the background. It goes on to say ...

The next generation of Xbox will support ARM processors from Qualcomm, according to a new job posting. As Microsoft continues to develop its strategy for the Xbox, more and more pieces of the puzzle are falling into place. - Brad Sams -

Whether this is really a classic games console or more of a handheld is, of course, difficult to answer. The eight-minute YouTube video provides further information and background on this topic.

https://www.pcgameshardware.de/Xbox-Series-X-Konsolen-268616/News/Next-Gen-mit-ARM-Prozessor-von-Qualcomm-1472948/