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The accounts for the third fiscal quarter of 2025, when finally deciphered from the labyrinthine bureaucracy of filings, revealed a figure of $2.91 earned per share, a stark reversal from the previous year’s loss of $9.39. It was as if the company, long accustomed to the taste of ashes, had suddenly stumbled upon a hidden orchard. Revenues had swelled, a generous 58% increase to $277.9 million, a bounty that felt both welcome and, to the seasoned observer, faintly unsettling – such sudden prosperity rarely arrived without a hidden cost. Bryant Riley, co-CEO, spoke of a “strong quarter” in investment banking, advisory, and research, but the truth, as it always is, lay in the shadows between the pronouncements.

They posted numbers last month that didn’t stink. That’s a good start. The real juice? AI. That’s what’s been pumping life into their revenue. Twenty-eight percent overall, but seventy-four percent in AI semiconductors. That’s the kind of growth that gets a man’s attention.

The company’s net revenue reached $17.89 billion for the quarter, a substantial increase of ten percent over the previous year. More telling, perhaps, is the rise in net income, calculated according to the accepted principles of accounting—a figure of $4.4 billion, or $2.68 per share, a nineteen percent ascent. These are not merely increments on a ledger; they represent the collective efforts of countless individuals, each driven by their own hopes and anxieties, all contributing to this singular outcome. The expectations of those who follow such matters, the so-called analysts, were surpassed, their predictions falling short of the reality—a humbling reminder of the limitations of foresight.

Now, most mining companies dig holes in the ground. Perfectly sensible. But TMC? Oh no, they’re after the seabed. A proper, deep-sea scrape. It’s a bit like building a sandcastle, only instead of buckets and spades, you need monstrous machines and a fortune. A truly enormous fortune. They call it pioneering. I call it spectacularly ambitious… and rather risky.

To lose a contract is unfortunate; to lose the need for a contract is a tragedy, and one Gartner appears to be courting. The question, therefore, is not whether the stock has fallen, but whether it has fallen into a void.

IonQ has garnered attention through recent advancements in trapped-ion quantum computing, notably achieving 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity. While this represents a technical milestone, it is crucial to contextualize its practical implications. Sustained high fidelity is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for scalable quantum computation. The company’s reliance on trapped-ion technology, while offering advantages in accuracy and scalability, introduces complexities in manufacturing and system integration.

And then Wells Fargo, of all places, upgrades KLA. Joseph Quatrochi, that’s the analyst. Quatrochi. Sounds like a pasta dish. He thinks demand for these 2-nanometer chips is going to explode in 2026. Explode! Like it’s some sort of…firework display. They’re just starting on these 2nm things, and suddenly everyone’s anticipating a windfall? It’s preposterous. He says 63% of TSMC’s shipments are these 5nm and 3nm chips. 63%! That’s a suspiciously round number. And Intel, apparently, is “increasing process control intensity.” What does that even mean? It sounds like they’re trying to sound important. Like they’re suddenly doing things with…intensity.

The situation, as is so often the case, is less about a sudden catastrophe and more about a slow unraveling. Pierre Brondeau, a man apparently recalled from a well-deserved retirement (one imagines a hammock and a lifetime supply of gardening gloves) has declared 2025, and likely 2026, a ‘reset year’. A reset. It’s a wonderfully vague term, isn’t it? Suggests everything will be fine, just… different. Like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, but with more fertilizer.