Ray Blanco:

The Memory Chip Shortage Will Get Worse Before It Gets Better, SK Hynix CEO Says

SK Hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung said Friday that 2027 will bring the most severe memory supply crunch the industry has ever seen, and demand will keep running ahead of what his company can produce for years after that.

"We forecast that next year will be the worst year in the industry's history from the supply perspective," Kwak told Reuters. "Our customer demand continues to go up, while our capacity has limitations. We still forecast that customer demand will remain higher than our supply capacity even beyond 2030."

The interview took place on July 10, the same day SK Hynix made its Nasdaq debut. Kwak said the contract behavior of his customers tells its own story: Buyers are locking in long-term agreements precisely because they do not see relief coming soon, a view that aligns with SK Hynix's internal projections extending into the next decade.

The AI infrastructure build-out has stoked demand for both conventional memory and high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, which is used alongside AI processors. That race to secure HBM has drained capacity away from consumer-facing segments of the market – chip buyers in the automotive, personal computer, and mobile phone industries have all felt the squeeze.

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Enrique Abeyta:

The Fed Just Named Xbox CEO Asha Sharma To Serve on a Task Force on Jobs – Days After She Announced 3,200 Layoffs

That announcement comes just days after Sharma announced the immediate dismissal of 1,600 workers in the Xbox division, with another 1,600 cuts expected in the coming months. The cuts this week represent a staff reduction of 20% for Xbox.

Fed chair Kevin Warsh has asked the task force Sharma will serve on to look at how emerging technologies affect the broader economy, helping to shape future monetary policies.

Sharma has a background in AI. Before taking over the Xbox division, she was the head of Microsoft's Core AI product division, overseeing product strategy for Azure AI and Copilot. Some of her other previous roles include stints as Chief Operating Officer at Instacart and a Vice President at Meta.

Sharma's appointment to the Fed task force comes as she faces a massive job righting the ship at Xbox. Once a leader in the console space, the brand has become bloated due to multiple acquisitions and is currently racking up massive losses due, in part, to a failed bet on game streaming.

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Greg Guenthner:

Bitcoin ETFs Draw $197M, Snap 8-Week Outflow Streak

U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded a net inflow of $197.4 million in the week ended Friday, snapping an eight-week streak of weekly outflows dating back to May.

Data from Farside Investors shows that most of the week’s gains came from the BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF, which recorded $291.9 million in inflows. This was offset by outflows from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF, the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund, and the ARK 21 Shares Bitcoin ETF.

The end of the outflow streak could suggest institutional demand for Bitcoin is recovering after two months of sustained selling pressure. However, analysts say it’s too early to tell.

“While one week of inflows doesn’t define a trend, it comes at a time when institutional confidence is growing around the potential passage of the CLARITY Act in the U.S. in August next month,” Monochrome Asset Management founder and CEO Jeff Yew said.

The $197.4 million weekly inflow was modest compared with the $8.26 billion investors withdrew since May 11.

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