This is a demo post illustrating the structure of an industry research piece.
The Value Chain Map
- Design (fabless) — NVDA, AMD: asset-light, high-margin, winner-take-most.
- Manufacturing (foundry) — TSM: capital-intensive with extreme process moats.
- Equipment — ASML, AMAT, LRCX: the picks-and-shovels oligopoly.
- EDA/IP — SNPS, CDNS, ARM: software-like subscription economics.
- Memory — MU: deeply cyclical with high price elasticity.
Segment Economics
The core of industry work is identifying the segment with the best structure, not the best headline growth.
Where Are We in the Cycle?
Useful indicators: memory spot prices, foundry utilization, downstream inventory days, and the inflection in industry capex growth.
Watchlist
In a real piece, list covered names by segment with the one-line thesis for each.