“The chip shortage continues to dominate the news cycle this earnings season,” says our chief technology expert Ray Blanco.

“Semiconductor companies with exposure to chips are surging on attractive pricing this quarter as companies reliant on chips (like automakers) struggle to keep their supply chains moving.

“But those are short-term forces,” Ray says. “Longer term, even chipmakers have a big problem on their hands if they can’t match supply to demand.

“So today, I want to dive into… a solution to the chip shortage…

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Your Rundown for Monday, November 8, 2021...

MST is a MUST

“A small semiconductor technology stock based in Silicon Valley… has developed a process that it calls Mears Silicon Technology, or MST.

“MST is a thin film that results in higher performance and lower-cost chips that operate at lower power consumption,” Ray says. “That’s a very big deal because typically performance and power have an inverse relationship.

“Wringing more performance out of every chip at lower energy consumption has big implications in a supply-constrained chip market -- it means that manufacturers can pack more chips onto the same area, and at higher yields.

“Meaning, manufacturers can actually achieve higher production rates from existing facilities,” he notes.

“That’s a very big deal because of the extraordinary lead times required to spin up new chip manufacturing facilities.

“Building a new chip fab today takes at least two years and $10 billion. So getting more production out of existing facilities is a very big deal.

“MST is unique because it can be applied to any chip technology,” Ray says.

“In other words, any chipmaker today can adopt MST to improve power consumption, reduce die sizes and improve yields.”

Ray’s looking at a company that’s championed MST technology, and as more chipmakers adopt MST, we’ll keep you posted.

Market Rundown for Monday, November 8, 2021

The S&P 500 is up 8 points to 4,705.

Oil is up 0.42% to $81.62 for a barrel of West Texas crude.

Gold’s up $8 per ounce to $1,824.80.

Bitcoin’s up almost 5% at the time of writing to $65,590.

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Hope your week starts on a positive note. Have a good one…

For The Rundown,

Aaron Gentzler
Editor, The Rundown
TheRundownFeedback@StPaulResearch.com