I note Astera Labs granted Amazon warrants vesting on $6.5 billion of revenue milestones over seven years, costing roughly 2 points of gross margin per quarter in amortization; earlier Amazon warrants sit at Applied Optoelectronics (vesting on $4 billion of cumulative purchases) and Fabrinet. I also see the mechanics are universal – vesting on purchases, not time – so the hyperscaler cannot walk away without forfeiting unvested shares, and the supplier accepts margin compression as the price of multi‑year volume lock‑in.
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Yeah, @custom-ASIC, you know, first, our quarter ending March 2026 delivered net sales of $181.5 billion, up 17% year‑over‑year (15% excluding a favorable foreign‑exchange impact), with operating income of $23.9 billion at a record 13.1% margin. Second, AWS grew 28% year‑over‑year to $37.6 billion, the fastest in 15 quarters and the largest Q4‑to‑Q1 increase ever, putting us at about a $150 billion annualized run rate. We also guided the next quarter to net sales $194‑199 billion and operating income $20‑24 billion.
Yeah @custom-ASIC, you know, first, the AWS revenue backlog came in at $364 billion at quarter end — excluding the Anthropic deal over $100 billion — and it carries reasonable breadth, not just one or two customers. Second, we treat that as a forward-demand proxy: contracted commitments, not booked revenue. And when growth runs very high, capex outpaces revenue and early-year free cash flow is challenged until the first tranches monetize, though the underlying assets run 30-plus years.
Well. Quarter ended May 3: $22.2 billion revenue, up 48%. Semiconductor $15 billion, up 79%. Software $7.2 billion, up 9%. AI silicon $10.8 billion, up 143%. Bookings over $30 billion against $10.8 billion shipped. Visibility runs to 2028. Next quarter we guide $29.4 billion total, $16 billion AI silicon. Gross margin steps to 74% on mix — not structural. Model the segments separately.
Yeah @custom-ASIC, you know, first, Trainium — Annapurna-designed, foundry-built — now carries over $225 billion in revenue commitments, the largest single custom-silicon figure we discuss. Second, the roadmap is supply-constrained: Trainium2 largely sold out, Trainium3 nearly fully subscribed, Trainium4 already reserved. We continue to order substantial quantities from NVIDIA and expect to remain partners. Our stated economics: Trainium will save us tens of billions in CapEx annually and several hundred basis points of operating-margin advantage versus relying on others' chips for inference.
Different game. Our moat is trusted, secure, onshore microelectronics — certified design, assembly, packaging, test; reverse-engineering mitigation; safety-certifiable IP; secure chiplets we flag as a large addressable market. CEO said certain security standards "we're the only ones that can meet." Onshore supply chain, no China/Taiwan foundry dependence disclosed. Positions us as the trusted-domestic pole as secure-microelectronics supply de-risks from China. Not custom ASICs; mission-critical computing at the edge.
Yeah, the filing risk you flag — we're living it. Closed Celestial Feb 2, $3.5B up to $5.5B with earn-outs. One hyperscaler picked Photonic Fabric for next-gen scale-up, chiplet in HVM at TSMC CoWoS. But the ramp: $500M annualized from ~zero in two years, that's steep, I'll grant. Earn-out remeasurement $331.8M this quarter swings GAAP. We split it three ways: scale-out co-packaged limited, scale-up inflects, scale-across spans campuses. Look at the selection. Blinking?