usdaed

Some are saying it’s too late to get in. They always say that. I say, don’t let the recent climb scare you. There’s a reason for it, and it’s not just luck. It’s a shift, a change in the air, and Micron is right in the thick of it.

One might ask, what dark portents does this signify? Is it a premonition of Tesla’s inevitable descent from its lofty perch? Or simply a man, weary of chasing phantom valuations, seeking the comforting solidity of a company that, at least, knows how to make something tangible? The answer, as always, is likely a blend of both, seasoned with a dash of pure, unadulterated human folly.

It is not simply a company, this Meta. It is a landscape, populated by billions. Three and a half billion, to be precise, daily active people—a vast constellation of lives intersecting through the digital ether. They call it DAP—a clinical term for such a human phenomenon. I prefer to think of it as a gathering, a modern village square where stories are exchanged, and connections forged. This is the soil from which its prosperity springs.

One might expect, in such circumstances, a corresponding decline in the market’s estimation. Yet, observe the paradox! The share price, contrary to all logical expectation, has ascended since the dawn of this year. A most curious spectacle, indeed! The stock, valued at a modest price-to-earnings ratio of twelve, prompts a question: is this a treasure overlooked, or merely a gilded cage?

It seems the supply of these little silicon slivers – these ‘chips,’ as they’re commonly called – ain’t keepin’ pace with the demand. A right pickle, that. Folks want their computin’ gadgets, their doohickeys and whatsits, and Intel, bless their hearts, is findin’ it a bit of a struggle to provide ’em. Their revenue dipped a wee four percent in the last quarter, to $13.7 billion. The PC chip business, it seems, is a bit sluggish, though their data center and AI division is holdin’ steady. A bit like a one-legged man in a kickin’ contest, I reckon – doin’ alright, but not exactly sweepin’ the field.

Launched in 2012, Ripple‘s XRP Ledger – a blockchain network possessing a certain architectural elegance – and its accompanying cryptocurrency were conceived as a solution to the sluggish, Byzantine complexities of cross-border payments. Transactions, we are told, settle in a mere three to five seconds, and fees are, comparatively, negligible – fractions of a penny. A stark contrast, naturally, to the ponderous, almost geological, pace of Bitcoin. The network, Ripple Payments, boasts over three hundred banking partners across six continents – a network of connections that, while impressive, feels less like a revolutionary disruption and more like a particularly elaborate game of global telephone.

The sum, $7.78 million, is a curious thing. Enough to briefly animate the share price, yet a mere rounding error in the grand scheme. At quarter’s end, the stake remained at the same value, a small comfort in a world where even numbers seem to shift without reason. One suspects the analysts involved have families to support, just like everyone else.

A rise of nearly 1,030% in eleven months is, admittedly, a rather startling figure. Most investors, alas, are driven by herd instinct and will likely mistake such exuberance for a bubble. They are, of course, perfectly entitled to their errors. It was the S&P 500’s best performer in 2025, a fact I mention not to encourage further frenzy, but merely to observe the irony. The masses reward success by overpaying for it.

It’s a peculiar position, really. Holding the keys to the kingdom. A kingdom built on sand, of course, because everything is temporary. But a kingdom nonetheless. They don’t shout about it, these Dutch engineers. They just keep building the machines. The machines that make the machines. It’s a sort of recursive nightmare, if you think about it too hard. Which, naturally, I do.