Theme ETF CEO Moritz Port Says Memory Bottleneck May Last Through 2029, Supporting Chip Stocks for at Least 3 Years
Summary
- Moritz Port said the memory semiconductor supply bottleneck could last through the end of 2029, allowing the strength in memory stocks to continue.
- He said the growing share of NAND memory in the age of AI agents could benefit SK Hynix, SanDisk and Kioxia.
- He advised Korean investors to focus on the upside in lesser-known niche areas such as photonics, power semiconductors, MLCCs and medical AI.
Forecast Trend Report by Period
Theme ETF CEO Moritz Port
NAND Demand to Rise in Era of AI Agents
Power Semiconductors, Medical AI Stocks in Focus
Moritz Port, chief executive officer of Theme ETF, an ETF manager gaining traction on Wall Street, said in a recent interview with the Korea Economic Daily that supply bottlenecks in memory semiconductors could persist through the end of 2029.
"It is too early to be definitive, but it would not be surprising if memory stocks remained strong through 2029," he added. Theme ETF has launched a series of funds aimed at bottlenecks in AI infrastructure, including power, memory, photonics and multilayer ceramic capacitors, or MLCCs. The firm has gathered more than $5 billion in assets under management in just three years.
Port also pointed to a shift within the memory market. Until now, DRAM has been the main driver of consumption, but NAND is set to account for a larger share as the era of AI agents unfolds. NAND is relatively inexpensive and better suited to the storage needs of AI agents. He named SK Hynix, SanDisk and Kioxia as companies positioned to benefit from that trend.
Theme ETF’s Laser ETF is known for holding Anthropic shares before the company goes public. Port said the fund owns Anthropic Series F preferred shares through a special purpose vehicle, or SPV, giving it the highest Anthropic exposure among U.S.-listed ETFs at 10% to 15%. The stake carries no fee and is valued at cost, he said.
Port also offered advice for Korean investors. Areas that have drawn relatively less attention include photonics and cooling. Power is already well known as electricity prices rise in the U.S., but power semiconductors remain a globally intertwined bottleneck. He cited Murata in MLCCs, Lumentum and Coherent in photonics, and Eaton and Bloom Energy in power.
He also highlighted physical AI and medical AI as areas to watch. Both are large fields that remain relatively underappreciated. Power semiconductors, semiconductor equipment and packaging are still in an early stage and remain niche segments, leaving more room to rise.
Park Shin-young, New York correspondent, Korea Economic Daily nyusos@hankyung.com
Korea Economic Daily
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