Writes Second Order by TKN — a plain-English map of AI infrastructure and semiconductors for non-specialist investors. Focus: who gets paid, where money sticks, and which step is stuck. Not investment advice.
Wire
Bitdeer AI has signed a 10-year deal for a 67 MW Malaysian AI campus with no customer yet. Across its four Malaysian halls, customers have signed for about 25 of 163 MW. The stuck step is offtake: no customer, no prepayment, no GPUs.
HBM
Micron designs and makes DRAM — including HBM stacks — and NAND: it gets paid when bits ship, while $12.75 billion of customer deposits lock future supply and Idaho wafers still wait until mid-2027.
US
Micron’s 9 October 10-K shows $133.2 billion of fiscal 2026 sales and $12.75 billion of customer deposits already in the door. Who gets paid is Micron, on bits that already shipped. The stuck step is Idaho DRAM wafer output, still dated mid-calendar 2027.
Explained
AI training is the long, planned job that teaches a model on a reserved GPU cluster. The stuck step is the last missing piece: the run does not start until every GPU is live.
Explained
AI training builds the model; AI inference runs it for every request. Training is usually paid for with long reserved contracts, inference by the hour or the token. Both run on the same GPUs, and live, powered GPUs are the stuck step.
Wire
BKV ordered about 1,200 MW of gas power equipment for a Texas plant, and an unnamed hyperscaler covers about 90% of what is due by 31 March 2027. No power deal is signed yet, and the turbines start arriving in September 2028.
AI Data Centers
Digital Core REIT is a Singapore-listed trust sponsored by Digital Realty that owns stakes in 11 data centres worth US$1.9bn, mostly in the US, Germany and Japan. In 1H 2026 it paid 1.80 US cents a unit, flat, and agreed a sponsor deal that would double Asia's share of its assets.
Catalyst
Willy Sun pleaded guilty on 8 October to four counts in the alleged US$2.5bn scheme to divert Super Micro AI servers to China. Super Micro is not charged, but its BIS inquiries, Liaw's 2 November trial and new Southeast Asian transit rules point to costlier end-user checks.
Wire
ASML is charging more to keep its machines running: 10% on every EUV and DUV replacement part for Korea from January 2027, accepted by Samsung and SK hynix. Its service and upgrade line was EUR 8.2 billion last year.
Singapore
Keppel DC REIT has completed its purchase of two full, powered data centres in Inzai, Greater Tokyo, for about S$1.37 billion. Rents are estimated at least 30% under market. Sellers and tenants are paid first; unitholders wait on lease dates in a grid that is full.
Korea
SK's chairman said on 9 October that SK hynix would build its next chip site fast, even before water and power are ready. At Yongin it has 3 of the 6 GW it needs. Memory makers are paid first, grid gear makers next. The stuck step is the power hookup.
Analysis
CoreWeave has signed for 4.2 GW of power but only 1.5 GW is live, while interest runs near $900M a quarter. What does a ~$45B price assume about power-on? Three scenarios, arithmetic shown.
