Tools & Platforms

A Hidden Catalyst in the AI Boom

Published

2 weeks ago

August 17, 2025

The artificial intelligence (AI) revolution is no longer a distant promise—it’s a present-day reality. At the forefront of this transformation is Nvidia, whose dominance in AI chips has made it a household name. Yet, beneath the spotlight of its GPUs lies a subtler but equally critical shift: the redefinition of AI infrastructure. By acquiring AI startups, investing in cloud partnerships, and expanding domestic manufacturing, Nvidia is not just building a chip empire—it’s reshaping the entire ecosystem. For investors, this signals an opportunity to look beyond the GPU spotlight and uncover underappreciated players like Micron Technology, whose role in AI infrastructure is poised to deliver outsized returns.

The Nvidia Effect: From Chips to Ecosystems

Nvidia’s 2025 acquisitions—Gretel, Lepton AI, and CentML—highlight its strategy to control the full AI stack. Gretel’s synthetic data tools address privacy and data scarcity, while Lepton AI’s GPU rental platform democratizes access to AI compute. CentML’s optimization software ensures these models run efficiently on Nvidia hardware. These moves are not isolated; they reflect a broader trend. In 2024 alone, Nvidia participated in 49 funding rounds for AI startups, including $100 million in OpenAI’s $6.6 billion round and $1.05 billion in Wayve’s autonomous driving venture.

Nvidia’s investments are not just about financial returns—they’re about ecosystem control. By backing startups that enhance data quality, cloud accessibility, and model efficiency, Nvidia ensures its GPUs remain the backbone of AI innovation. This strategy is amplified by its domestic manufacturing partnerships with TSMC, Foxconn, and Wistron, which aim to produce $500 billion in AI infrastructure over four years. The result? A self-reinforcing cycle where Nvidia’s hardware, software, and cloud partnerships lock in market share.

The Hidden Catalyst: Micron Technology’s AI Infrastructure Play

While Nvidia grabs headlines, Micron Technology operates in the shadows of the AI boom. As a supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), Micron’s HBM3E chips are critical for AI training and inferencing. These chips power Nvidia’s Blackwell Ultra B300 GPU and its upcoming GB200 and GB300 systems. What sets Micron apart is its technological edge: its 12-high HBM3E design offers 50% more memory capacity than SK Hynix’s 8-high version, while reducing power consumption by 30%.

Micron’s financials underscore its strategic importance. In Q2 2025, the company reported non-GAAP diluted EPS of $1.56, with operating margins at 24.9% and EBITDA margins at 50.7%. HBM gross margins of 50–55%—well above industry averages—reflect its premium positioning. Data center revenue now accounts for over half of Micron’s total revenue, a testament to surging demand for AI memory. For fiscal 2025, Micron raised its revenue guidance to $11.1–$11.3 billion, with non-GAAP EPS projected to jump 141% year-over-year.

Why Micron Is Undervalued—and Why That’s a Problem

Despite these strengths, Micron trades at a forward P/E of 10, significantly lower than the Nasdaq-100’s 30. This undervaluation stems from market myopia: investors fixate on AI chipmakers like Nvidia and AMD while overlooking the memory and storage layer. Yet, the HBM market is projected to grow from $4 billion in 2023 to $130 billion by 2033, with Micron capturing 24% of the market by year-end.

Micron’s partnerships with Nvidia and AMD are further cementing its role. Its HBM3E is already in production for next-gen AI systems, and its $14 billion capex plan for 2025—funded by new facilities in Idaho and Singapore—positions it to meet surging demand. Additionally, its $150 billion U.S. manufacturing commitment aligns with global supply chain resilience trends, making it a strategic partner for hyperscalers like Microsoft and Amazon.

The Investment Case: Balancing Risk and Reward

For investors, the key is to balance Nvidia’s visibility with Micron’s potential. While Nvidia’s $100 billion market cap and $100 million OpenAI investment signal its dominance, Micron’s $70 billion valuation offers a more compelling risk-reward profile. Its HBM market share growth, 50%+ gross margins, and alignment with AI’s infrastructure needs make it a high-conviction play.

However, risks persist. The HBM market is capital-intensive, and Micron’s $14 billion capex could strain short-term margins. Additionally, geopolitical tensions and supply chain disruptions could impact its U.S. manufacturing plans. Yet, these risks are mitigated by Micron’s technological leadership and long-term contracts with AI leaders.

Conclusion: Look Beyond the GPU Spotlight

Nvidia’s strategic acquisitions and investments are more than a corporate strategy—they’re a blueprint for the future of AI. By controlling the ecosystem, from data to cloud to hardware, Nvidia ensures its dominance. But for investors seeking alpha, the real opportunity lies in the underappreciated players like Micron. As AI adoption accelerates, the demand for HBM and memory solutions will outpace even the most bullish GPU forecasts. Micron’s undervalued stock, robust financials, and critical role in AI infrastructure make it a compelling addition to any portfolio.

In the AI arms race, the winners won’t just be the chipmakers—they’ll be the enablers. And Micron, with its HBM3E and strategic vision, is ready to lead.

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Tools & Platforms

New office to lead AI, tech integration across all campuses

Published

33 minutes ago

September 3, 2025

UH News

Reading time: 2 minutes

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) transforms higher education, the University of Hawaiʻi is launching a new systemwide office to meet the challenge and establish itself as a national leader. The UH Office of Academic Technology and Innovation (OATI) will guide the integration of emerging technologies and AI across all 10 campuses, serving as the hub for strategy, implementation and oversight in teaching, learning and operations.

Housed within the Office of the UH President, the office will be overseen by Ina Wanca, the UH Chief Academic Technology Innovation Officer. Wanca will work closely with campus leaders, ITS and the Institutional Research and Analysis Office and serve as the primary liaison between academic leadership and ITS.

OATI will support the consolidation and alignment of academic technology, advance AI adoption and transformative initiatives across the system and establish governance frameworks to ensure the responsible, ethical and equitable use of technology.

“The Office of Academic Technology and Innovation is a critical step forward in ensuring UH is not just adapting to emerging technologies but leading their thoughtful and strategic integration,” said UH President Wendy Hensel. “This office will help us realize the full potential of AI and academic innovation to support student success, faculty excellence, and operational efficiency.”

With AI adoption moving at different paces across UH’s ten campuses, OATI will create a single framework ensuring all investments, tools, and innovations drive a common vision for teaching, learning, and research.

“This new office turns that shared vision into reality,” said Ina Wanca. “By ensuring equal access to modern tools, building AI literacy for students and faculty and linking innovation to workforce readiness, we will prepare Hawaiʻi’s learners and educators to thrive in the AI era while honoring the values that define our university system.”

OATI will also support the AI Planning Group announced June 25 in developing a university-wide AI strategy aligned with institutional goals.

“With the AI Planning Group and OATI working together, we can align priorities across all campuses and move quickly from ideas to implementation,” said Kim Siegenthaler, Senior Advisor to the President.

The office will also help lead implementation of the $7.4 million, five-year subscription to EAB Navigate360 and EAB Edify, approved by the UH Board of Regents on June 16. The platforms use predictive analytics to alert faculty, advisors, and support staff at the earliest sign a student may be at risk. The systems have proven successful in closing student achievement gaps and improving retention and graduation rates.

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Tools & Platforms

We have let down teens if we ban social media but embrace AI

Published

1 hour ago

September 3, 2025

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If you are in your 70s, you didn’t fight in the second world war. Such a statement should be uncontroversial, given that even the oldest septuagenarian today was born after the war ended. But there remains a cultural association between this age group and the era of Vera Lynn and the Blitz.

A similar category error exists when we think about parents and technology. Society seems to have agreed that social media and the internet are unknowable mysteries to parents, so the state must step in to protect children from the tech giants, with Australia releasing details of an imminent ban. Yet the parents of today’s teenagers are increasingly millennial digital natives. Somehow, we have decided that people who grew up using MySpace or Habbo Hotel are today unable to navigate how their children use TikTok or Fortnite.

Simple tools to restrict children’s access to the internet already exist, from adjusting router settings to requiring parental permission to install smartphone apps, but the consensus among politicians seems to be that these require a PhD in electrical engineering, leading to blanket illiberal restrictions. If you customised your Facebook page while at university, you should be able to tweak a few settings. So, rather than asking everyone to verify their age and identify themselves online, why can’t we trust parents to, well, parent?

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If you customised your Facebook page at university, you should be able to tweak a few settings
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Failing to keep up with generational shifts could also result in wider problems. As with the pensioners we’ve bumped from serving in Vietnam to storming Normandy, there is a danger in focusing on the wrong war. While politicians crack down on social media, they rush to embrace AI built on large language models, and yet it is this technology that will have the largest effect on today’s teens, not least as teachers wonder how they will be able to set ChatGPT-proof homework.

Rather than simply banning things, we need to be encouraging open conversations about social media, AI and any future technologies, both across society and within families.

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Tools & Platforms

Younger business owners are turning to AI for business advice – here’s why that’s a terrible idea

Published

1 hour ago

September 3, 2025

Craig Hale

53% of all UK SMB owners use AI tools for business advice – 60% of 25-34-year-olds
31% use TikTok, but this is nearly doubled among 18-24-year-olds
Human emotion, experience and ethics are crucial

Half (53%) of the UK’s SMB owners are now using AI tools, like ChatGPT and Gemini, for business advice – but this is even more pronounced among younger entrepreneurs, where usage rises to around 60% among 25-34-year-olds.

Artificial intelligence is clearly serving as a brainstorming tool to verify what family and friends are saying, with 93% still trusting those individuals for business advice.

Worldpay, the company behind the research, says that young entrepreneurs are now redefining business advice, but it might not be such a good idea.

Classic internet search engines also remain a popular tool for 47% of the 1,250 UK SME business owners surveyed, but social media could soon outpace basic internet searches. YouTube (51%), LinkedIn (41%) and Facebook/Instagram (37%) are quickly gaining momentum, as is TikTok which sees a smaller 31% share of trust – but 60% among 18-24-year-olds.

However, where AI and social media advice falls short of human-sought advice is in limited context (such as industry-specific notes) and potential bias. Videos posted online can often push certain agendas or schemes that may not act in the interest of the young entrepreneurs.

They also risk over-relying on unverified sources and exposing themselves to unrealistic expectations set out by videos that specially curate only what the author wants to show.

“Entrepreneurs today must rely on both their personal networks and invest in the right tools to help their business thrive,” Worldpay GM for SMB International Chris Wood commented.

Thankfully, 93% are still relying on human peers for advice, which adds layers of emotional, experience and ethical that one-size-fits-all videos can’t offer.

In the end, a broader spectrum of information can only be a good thing, but young entrepreneurs must remember not to fully replace human advice with online, non-personalized sources.