August saw a continuation of a positive reporting period for the second quarter for our portfolio companies, with the figures pointing to strong demand that far exceeded supply: Nvidia surprised the market with a growth forecast of 70 % for the 2028 financial year (calendar year 2027), as demand is significantly greater than the company\u2019s production capacity; we saw positive results from AMD, Arista Networks and SanDisk \u2013 companies in which we all hold stakes \u2013 all of which attested to strong demand; we also noted positive updates regarding ARR (annual recurring revenue) from both OpenAI and Anthropic, where combined revenue continues to grow at a rapid pace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If we summarise the insights from the reporting period, we see higher GPU rental prices, expanded capital expenditure (capex) plans, significant gross margins and a high return on investment (ROI) within inference, while a large number of companies are securing long-term supply agreements. All of this helps to dispel concerns that demand is about to plateau. This is good news for the entire ecosystem \u2013 including other players in computing power, memory and networking technology (where we have exposure through the portfolio) as well as semiconductor manufacturing equipment suppliers (known as semicap companies) further up the value chain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n