Three Companies Own the World | The Memory Play with Howard Chan

In this episode of the Market Misbehavior podcast, Dave is joined by Howard Chan, CEO of Kurv Investment Management. Recorded August 4th 2026.

Howard breaks down why highly specialized memory chips (High Bandwidth Memory) have become the ultimate bottleneck in the AI infrastructure buildout, explaining how hyperscalers are driving up costs across the entire consumer electronics ecosystem. We dig into the massive physical constraints of expanding semiconductor supply, why the global memory market is dominated by a tight three-company oligopoly, and how to gain pure-play exposure to this theme through the new KMEM ETF. The conversation also explores how to rethink the traditional 60/40 portfolio by using institutional-style covered call strategies to harvest volatility premia and generate synthetic income from traditionally non-yielding assets like mega-cap tech and gold.

If you enjoyed today's episode with our Guest Howard Chan, check out this link to Kurv ETFs: https://www.kurvinvest.com/

📈 Topics Covered
• Why High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) is critical for reducing AI "hallucinations" and maintaining context in frontier models like ChatGPT and Claude
• The physical and capital constraints limiting new chip supply, including $50 billion fab costs and multi-year ASML equipment backlogs
• How the pivot to AI memory is crowding out traditional chip manufacturing, driving up prices for consumer electronics like Xbox, Nintendo, and Apple devices
• The three-company oligopoly controlling 90% of the world's memory chips: Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix
• Navigating the limitations of single-country Korean ETFs and the impact of SK Hynix's recent US cross-listing
• The dangers of excessive retail leverage in semiconductor momentum trades (and the recent margin call wipeouts in global markets)
• Rethinking covered calls: How institutional call spread strategies allow investors to harvest volatility premia (income) without completely capping upside potential
• Modernizing the 60/40 portfolio by generating synthetic yield from traditionally non-income producing assets like growth tech and precious metals

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The content in this presentation should not be considered as a recommendation to buy or sell any security. All information is intended for educational purposes only and in no way should be considered as investment advice.