The 40 vehicle makers in the Custer composite grew 2.0% on a year in 2Q’26. Battery materials grew 33.0% and charging 36.5%. The growth in automotive is in electrification, and October’s registrations show the buyers moving the same way.
Memory prices are being paid by the people who buy phones and computers. China’s shop prices for data storage devices rose 45.4% on a year in October, and the world’s smartphone buyers paid a record US$442 on average while shipments fell 19%.
Memory suppliers’ revenue rose 298% in the September quarter while their data center customers grew 19%. On November 3, voters favored limits on data centers in 40 of 41 local ballot measures.