MU$946 +9.3% ▲
SNDK$1,537 +10.5% ▲
NBIS$206 +12.7% ▲
ALAB$326 +5.4% ▲
MU$946 +9.3% ▲
SNDK$1,537 +10.5% ▲
NBIS$206 +12.7% ▲
ALAB$326 +5.4% ▲
Watchlist · The AI Stack
The AI Stack Watchlist
Data centers · Memory · Connectivity & photonics
12
names · live prices Jul 20, 2026
Three layers of the AI build-out, and the names I watch in each.
- The IdeaAI needs three physical things: somewhere to run (data centers), somewhere to remember (memory), and something to move the data between chips (connectivity). Own a piece of each layer instead of guessing one winner.
- The LayersData centers build and rent the compute. Memory is the real bottleneck — every AI chip needs HBM. Connectivity is the plumbing that stops thousands of GPUs choking on their own data.
- The WarningThese have run hard. Several sit near 52-week highs after enormous moves — MU is up ~9x off its low, SNDK from ~$40 to ~$1,500. Great businesses, stretched prices.
§ Plain English — How the Three Layers Fit
Think of AI like a giant kitchen. The data center is the building and the ovens — that's CoreWeave, Nebius, IREN. Memory is the countertop space where ingredients sit while you cook; too little and everything stalls — that's Micron and SK Hynix, and it's the tightest part of the whole chain. Connectivity is the staff running plates between stations — Credo, Astera Labs, Marvell. A world-class oven is useless if the counter is full and nobody can move the food.
§ 1 · AI Data Centers
They build the buildings and rent out the GPUs. Highest growth, but capital-hungry and debt-financed.
| Ticker | Company | Price | 52wk L/H | What they do |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CRWV | CoreWeave | $76.88 +5.23% | $63.80 $153.20 | The biggest pure-play AI neocloud — rents out GPU clusters to AI labs. Huge backlog, heavy debt, Meta concentration risk. |
| NBIS | Nebius Group | $205.80 +12.69% | $49.00 $299.86 | Full-stack AI cloud (ex-Yandex). High-touch inference, Microsoft + Meta deals. Best diversified of the neoclouds. |
| IREN | IREN Ltd | $41.79 +3.94% | $14.72 $76.87 | Bitcoin miner turned AI data-center builder. 800MW South Australia campus, $3.4B NVIDIA GPU-cloud deal. |
| SHAZ | Sharon AI | $69.28 +11.13% | $1.90 $178.00 | Australian neocloud. $1.6B raise, NVIDIA 6-yr deal, scaling to 40,000 GB300 GPUs. Extremely volatile. |
| WYFI | WhiteFiber | $27.13 +0.0% | $10.51 $46.87 | Small-cap neocloud spun out of a Bitcoin miner. GPU-packed data centers; the high-torque speculative one. |
| APLD | Applied Digital | $29.87 +7.25% | $9.79 $50.72 | Builds and leases AI data-center capacity to hyperscalers. Capital-intensive, financing-dependent. |
§ 2 · Memory
The actual bottleneck in AI. High-bandwidth memory sits next to every AI chip, and supply is sold out.
| Ticker | Company | Price | 52wk L/H | What they do |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MU | Micron | $946.24 +9.33% | $103.22 $1255.00 | The US memory champion. HBM (high-bandwidth memory) is the AI bottleneck — every AI chip needs it. Up ~9x off the 52-wk low. |
| SKHY | SK Hynix ADR | $165.26 +9.33% | $145.57 $194.80 | World leader in HBM and Korea's biggest company. New US listing — trades at a premium to the Korean line. |
| SNDK | SanDisk | $1537.02 +10.5% | $40.10 $2354.39 | NAND flash storage spun out of Western Digital. Enormous run — up from ~$40 to ~$1,500 in a year. |
This is the group Korea's leveraged retail crowd piled into — Samsung and SK Hynix carried ~24% of all Korean margin debt before the July crash. Powerful trend, crowded trade.
§ 3 · Connectivity & Photonics
The plumbing between chips. Less glamorous, high margin, and impossible to scale AI without.
| Ticker | Company | Price | 52wk L/H | What they do |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CRDO | Credo Technology | $221.82 +4.6% | $86.49 $308.67 | Active electrical cables and SerDes that move data between AI racks. Lip-Bu Tan-backed; revenue more than doubling. |
| ALAB | Astera Labs | $325.85 +5.42% | $97.89 $499.48 | Connectivity silicon (PCIe/CXL retimers) that links GPUs to CPUs and memory. Pure AI-rack infrastructure play. |
| MRVL | Marvell | $206.20 +5.78% | $61.32 $329.88 | Custom AI silicon plus optical DSP. Bought Inphi, Innovium and Aquantia (~$11.5B) to own data-center connectivity. |
§ How I'd Rank the Risk
| Tier | Names | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Core | MU · MRVL · ALAB · CRDO | Real earnings, entrenched positions, the picks-and-shovels of the build-out |
| Growth | NBIS · CRWV · IREN · SKHY · SNDK | Genuine businesses scaling fast, but volatile and priced for a lot |
| Speculative | SHAZ · WYFI · APLD | Small caps, heavy dilution and financing risk. Size them small |
⚠ Warning — my own watchlist
This is simply what I watch and my own read on it — not financial advice and not a recommendation to buy anything. Most of these have already run enormously and can fall just as fast. Do your own research.
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Nefarious Trading
Equity research and trading commentary — AI infrastructure, memory, semiconductors.
Prices are live snapshots from Interactive Brokers as of July 20, 2026 and change constantly. Company descriptions are simplified summaries. This is my personal watchlist and my own view — not financial advice, and not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Several of these names have risen many multiples in a year and carry significant downside risk; small caps carry dilution and financing risk. Do your own research. © 2026 Nefarious Trading.