Last night, US chip stocks strengthened in sync with Meta. Meta's stock price jumped over 6% at the open, continued to rise throughout the day, and closed up 11.43%, reaching a new high since early February this year. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surged over 3%, ARM soared 13%, and chip giants like Intel and AMD also followed suit, with AMD's market value surpassing $1 trillion for the first time. This wave of strong moves in the capital market is largely driven by the explosive performance of Meta's latest AI assistant, Muse, as well as the high expectations for the upcoming Meta Connect conference.
1. Several Wall Street firms raise Meta's target price; how does Muse change the form of social products?
Muse rapidly completed its matrix layout across multiple platforms and topped the US region, prompting several Wall Street firms to adjust their target prices and watch lists for Meta. Muse launched simultaneously on mobile, web, and social platforms in early September, subsequently adding a Mac version, and last Friday surpassed the long-standing ChatGPT to reach the top of the US App Store's free chart. On the same day, Wells Fargo raised its target price for Meta to $796, while Citigroup included it in its 90-day catalyst watch list.
How does Muse differ from competitors like ChatGPT and Claude? Meta's main differentiation lies in directly embedding Muse into social content on WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram. This means hundreds of millions of users can directly use Muse within existing chat and social media software. Not only that, Muse is fully integrated with the web and Meta's AI glasses; when you start a task on one device, even if you exit the interface, it can continue to work quietly in the background. Another differentiating factor is its "memory" capability: upon launch, Muse naturally inherits your social data, clearly knowing what you have saved, who you follow, or what you have searched in the Marketplace. The use case promoted by the official is to "automatically organize your saved recipes into a shopping list," but the underlying logic is that it can utilize this social data to outline users' daily rhythms, personal interests, and to-do lists.
According to official information, in addition to social platforms, Muse has further integrated with Gmail, Apple, and Google Calendar, assisting in drafting and sending emails, making restaurant reservations, booking flights and hotels, tracking product prices, and even scanning your email receipts to help identify forgotten subscription payments that have been charged. It can even negotiate car prices and cut bills in the background, finally settling the payment directly through Stripe’s Link wallet.
How does Muse differ from Meta's own previous AI products? In terms of product positioning, Muse marks Meta's transition from traditional chatbots to personalized agents capable of executing complex tasks. Unlike last year's Meta AI, which focused on image and short video generation, Muse is positioned as a digital agent that can "get things done" for users. It can seamlessly connect with Gmail, calendars, and third-party catering and travel services, even autonomously completing complex online tasks like sending emails, ordering food, and filling out forms through a browser. In terms of business model, Muse offers a free basic version while also launching subscription tiers of $20 and $100 per month to meet varying demands.
2. Meta's deep binding with AMD, ARM, etc., complements each other with self-developed chips
The large-scale application of AI entities like Muse is changing the demand structure for data center CPUs. These entities need to handle complex processes like planning, web browsing, tool calling, and state maintenance, which consumes significant CPU resources rather than relying solely on GPUs. Industry data shows that under equivalent data center power, the CPU core count required for AI workloads is about four times that of traditional AI systems. Muse topping the App Store is seen by some market participants as a signal of "AI transitioning from demonstration to everyday use," prompting a reevaluation of CPU demand forecasts.
AMD—On February 24 this year, it officially announced an expanded strategic partnership, providing long-term order support for its computing power expansion. Meta's expanded strategic cooperation with AMD involves GPU deployments at a scale of up to gigawatts, with the long-term agreement reportedly expected to reach hundreds of billions of RMB (please verify the original reporting currency), making it the largest procurement commitment Meta has made outside of Nvidia. As such, the market anticipates that if Muse's user base continues to grow, AMD's order visibility may improve, although this ultimately depends on the progress of the agreement.
ARM—On March 24 this year, Meta and ARM deeply cooperated to develop dedicated CPUs to promote the growth of hardware ecosystems and self-developed chips. The jointly developed "ARM AGI CPU" is ARM's first data center processor designed specifically for the AI era, aimed at supporting gigawatt-level AI deployments in conjunction with Meta's self-developed MTIA chip. Because ARM charges royalties based on shipment volume, the market has adjusted its expectations for its licensing revenue. At the same time, Meta is also advancing the MTIA, a self-developed AI acceleration chip based on the RISC-V architecture, with Broadcom as the system integration partner. This forms a powerful computing landscape comprising "Nvidia GPUs, AMD GPUs, jointly developed CPUs, and self-developed MTIA" that complement each other.
3. Five key highlights of this week's Meta Connect conference: VR headsets, AI glasses, display glasses, system, and black technology demonstrations
The upcoming Meta Connect conference will be a key node in testing whether Meta's "AI + hardware" narrative can deliver. The keynote speech will be delivered by Zuckerberg himself, focusing on cutting-edge breakthroughs in AI technology, smart glasses, and VR hardware. This is not only an important ecological display following Muse's rise but will also bring new technological directions for developer sub-forums.
New VR/MR hardware—codenamed Phoenix, a lightweight split headset: This is the most anticipated hardware of the conference, resembling a pair of goggles rather than traditional headsets, extremely thin, and connected to a pocket-sized computing box via a single cable, offloading much of the weight from the head. Industry predictions suggest the entire device will weigh around 100 grams, relying mainly on eye-tracking and gesture-tracking, no longer dependent on controllers, and focused more on large-screen entertainment and video content rather than gaming. It is worth noting that multiple sources indicate the actual release time of Phoenix has been postponed to the first half of 2027; September 23 may merely be a form factor release or preview rather than a sale.
AI glasses—codenamed Luna, smart glasses without cameras: Reports suggest that Meta will launch smart glasses without cameras that use more microphones to interact with Meta AI, possibly in two versions, slated for release this fall. Removing the camera serves two purposes: first, it allows for a thinner frame, closer to ordinary glasses; second, it addresses ongoing privacy concerns regarding "spy glasses."
Display glasses—second-generation Meta Ray-Ban Display: It is expected that both eyes will be upgraded to full-color displays, while Meta may further open its application ecosystem and usage scenarios, attempting to transform the Display series from an accessory product into a true platform—Meta has already opened the Wearables Device Access Toolkit to developers, allowing them to utilize the camera, audio, and display capabilities of the AI glasses.
System and AI—next-generation VR/MR operating system: As Phoenix has eliminated the need for controllers, "seeing with the eyes and pinching with the fingers" must transition from an interaction option to a fundamental system logic; hence, the new generation operating system is expected to integrate eye-tracking and gesture-tracking more deeply into the system layer, and the AI agent Muse may also be integrated into a part of system capabilities.
The biggest Easter egg—holographic calls aimed at Apple Personas: Reports indicate that Meta may demonstrate a set of "holographic video calls" based on an advanced version of Codec Avatars around Phoenix. This photorealistic digital human technology has been in development by Meta since 2015, and if realized, it would be the first instance of Meta standing on the same level as Apple's Personas in terms of virtual representation.
4. What is Meta's supply chain for AI glasses and headset hardware?
Qualcomm (QCOM), as a core chip supplier, occupies a central position in Meta's smart hardware industry chain. Whether it is the next-generation headsets or smart glasses, the core SOC chips are supplied by Qualcomm, and the main processor constitutes a significant portion of the overall BOM cost. Qualcomm not only has specialized chip design capabilities and ecological adaptation experience but is also actively promoting high-density optical interconnect technology to extend towards AI infrastructure, which is regarded as one of the factors supporting its valuation.
NXP (NXPI) and Sony (SONY) and other key component manufacturers provide essential support for power management and optical perception for hardware devices. NXP, as an MCU supplier, is responsible for handling sensor collection and low-power wake-up tasks, significantly affecting the device's battery life. Meanwhile, Sony, as a leader in image sensors, continuously provides critical sensor support for headsets and display glasses. These manufacturers together form the main supply chain for Meta's smart hardware.
Disclaimer｜ This article is based on publicly available market information, industry rumors, and news reports, analyzing and summarizing various predictive content. The statistics regarding the rise and fall of individual stocks and indices may not be completely consistent in terms of scope and time frames, and the actual publishing content, supply arrangements, and stock price performance all involve significant uncertainty, verified against official announcements and market trends. It should be especially noted that last night's broad rise in US stocks was not driven by a single factor: besides the narrative surrounding Meta and AI, the de-escalation of Middle East tensions also constituted a significant macro benefit, combined with oil prices falling below $100, which allowed the market to withdraw some geopolitical risk premiums, thus improving the overall risk appetite. Therefore, the rise in individual stocks mentioned in the text should not be entirely attributed to changes in the fundamentals of Meta or the AI industry chain itself. This article does not constitute investment advice, and any individual stocks mentioned do not represent any buy or sell recommendations; the market carries risks, and decisions should be made cautiously.
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