1. The gap
Semiconductors sit at the crossroads of physics and capital markets. The challenge is that the people building the technology and the people allocating capital rarely speak the same language.
Investors and analysts focus on revenues, margins, and earnings. They model businesses and track quarterly results, often treating the underlying technology as a black box.
Engineers understand how systems actually work. They know the constraints, tradeoffs, and failure modes, but those details are rarely connected to market dynamics or business outcomes.
When these perspectives stay disconnected, technology shifts are misunderstood. Adoption timelines get misread, bottlenecks are underestimated, and capital is deployed with incomplete context.
2. What this newsletter aims to do
This newsletter exists to bridge that gap.
I focus on the physical layer of AI and cloud computing, where real constraints shape what scales, what breaks, and what ultimately creates durable value. That includes networking, interconnects, optics and photonics, high-speed copper, test and measurement, packaging, and power consumption.
These layers don’t generate headlines, but they quietly determine cost, performance, and feasibility. When relevant, I also explore non-AI markets where the same physical realities apply.
The goal is simple: explain how engineering decisions translate into market outcomes, and why those details matter long before they show up in earnings.
3. What I cover
Topics I regularly cover include optical pluggables, co-packaged optics, linear pluggable optics, passive and active copper, test and measurement instrumentation, IEEE and OIF compliance, forward error correction, signal integrity, and error metrics such as BER and SER.
The common thread is not the technology itself, but the constraints it introduces and the tradeoffs it forces across systems, supply chains, and business models.
4. Who this is for
This newsletter is for you if:
You invest in semiconductor or infrastructure companies and want to understand the hardware behind the numbers
You want a clearer picture of high-speed I/O technologies across semiconductors, optics, and photonics
You’re interested in why optics are becoming more important, while copper is not going away anytime soon
This newsletter is not for you if:
You’re looking for investment advice or price targets
You expect daily or reactive market commentary
You want academic debates rather than applied, system-level analysis
5. Who I am
Hi, my name is Fabian, first (ever) of his name. I have a genuine interest in both capital markets and the physical infrastructure that enables AI and cloud computing.
I started my career in test and measurement, working at the physical layer of optical communication systems and interconnects, following IEEE and OIF standards for 100G optical transceivers, as well as testing for high-speed copper. During that time, I developed products and supported customers across the photonics ecosystem in South-East Asia and the United States, primarily on the West Coast, gaining hands-on exposure to the engineering constraints that shape performance, cost, and scalability.
Over time, I became increasingly interested in how those technical decisions translated into market outcomes and investment implications. That curiosity led me to transition into commercial and sales roles, where I worked closely with hyperscalers, semiconductor vendors, and equipment suppliers at the system and platform level. Along the way, I also went on a side quest, working in sales for AWS out of sunny Madrid, Spain.
Outside of work, I am drawn to disciplines that reward patience and pattern recognition. I am a fan of classical and techno music, as well as art, particularly expressionism, realism, and surrealism, with a soft spot for Art Deco. I spend a lot of time around endurance sports having lately focused on long-distance running, which has shaped how I think about consistency, compounding effort, and performance over time.
This is the lens through which I write and analyze the AI semiconductor and optical infrastructure landscape. And as always, open to anyone’s feedback.
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