Under US$50B market cap
Market cap below US$50B at the yearly admission review. This is the size band where a single supply-chain fact still moves the whole company. Names that grow past the line graduate off the list in public.
Coverage universe
We cover what the headline names depend on.
The mega-caps in the headlines are covered by hundreds of analysts. The companies they cannot ship without are often covered by almost nobody in English. This page is the whole list, the rules that admit a name to it, and the rule that removes one.
Admission rules
Four rules decide the list. All four are public.
A name is on this page because it passes every rule below, not because anyone on the team finds it interesting. The rules are written so a reader can check them without us.
Sits at a mapped bottleneck
The company occupies a named chokepoint in the AI supply chain and is a named dependency of a named demand anchor — a specific input, at a specific step, not a loose thematic association.
Has a public data cadence
There is a recurring public release we can commit dated, falsifiable claims against — for example Taiwan monthly revenue, filed to MOPS by the 10th of the following month. No cadence means no way to be publicly wrong on a schedule, so no coverage.
Under-covered in English
Five or fewer English-language analysts publish regular research on the part of the business that matters here. Where a company is followed in English for a different reason than the one that puts it on this list, that counts as under-covered.
Analyst counts are EquityLayer's own conservative reading of English-language research that is publicly visible, re-checked at each yearly admission review. They are not a vendor consensus count, and local-language sell-side coverage is usually much broader.
Context, not coverage
Demand anchors
These are the names the list is defined against. They are the map, not the territory: EquityLayer publishes no notes and no claims on an anchor, and an anchor is never admitted to the covered universe. They appear here only so you can see which dependency each covered name sits on.
NVIDIA
Sets the build schedule for the AI rack. Every name below is sized and timed against this accelerator roadmap.
TSMC
Fabricates the accelerators and runs the advanced packaging. Its wafer and packaging capacity is the gate every upstream input is planned around.
ASML Holding
Sole maker of EUV lithography systems. The installed EUV base is the reason an EUV consumable market exists at all.
Samsung Electronics
The second large-scale advanced-logic and HBM manufacturer — a second demand pole pulling on the same materials and consumables.
Intel
Foundry and advanced-packaging build-out — a third demand pole for wafers, substrates, gases, and EUV consumables.
3 covered · 5 in graduation review
The covered universe
Each card carries the one thing the company makes that the anchors cannot route around, the public release the next claim will be committed against, and a market cap band rather than a precise figure — the band is a rule check, not a valuation.
2802.T
CoveredAjinomoto
Makes the ABF insulating film every advanced substrate is laminated with — one material, effectively one qualified supplier, sitting under an entire generation of AI packaging.
- Market
- JP
- Depends on
- NVIDIA · TSMC · Intel
- Data cadence
- JP quarterly consolidated results — TDnet filing plus company IR release, roughly four to six weeks after quarter end
- Market cap band
- ~US$28–32B as of 2026-07
- English coverage
- Followed in English mainly as a food and seasoning company; ≤5 English-language analysts write regularly on the electronic-materials segment that puts it on this list.
Cap band source: stockanalysis.com / companiesmarketcap.com, TYO:2802, read 2026-07-31 (¥4.8T)
Read the research noteResearch, not advice.
1229.TW
CoveredLien Hwa Industrial Holdings
Its industrial-gas arm pipes bulk and specialty gases into Taiwan fabs under long-dated on-site contracts; new fab capacity in Taiwan cannot start up without a gas partner already built into the site.
- Market
- TW
- Depends on
- TSMC
- Data cadence
- TW monthly revenue — MOPS, due the 10th
- Market cap band
- ~US$2–3B as of 2026-07
- English coverage
- No consensus contributor found. stockanalysis.com, TradingView and cnyes all show no analyst estimates at all (checked 2026-08-01); English screens still classify it under food and beverage, not semiconductors. Absence from consensus databases is not proof of zero coverage — a domestic broker could publish Chinese-only notes that never reach S&P Global or LSEG.
Cap band source: stockanalysis.com, TPE:1229, read 2026-07-31 (NT$78B)
Read the research noteResearch, not advice.
3680.TWO
CoveredGudeng Precision Industrial
Makes the sealed EUV pods that carry and protect EUV photomasks between the lithography tool and storage; a single contaminated mask idles an EUV line, so the container is a qualified part of the process, not packaging.
- Market
- TW
- Depends on
- ASML Holding · TSMC · Intel · Samsung Electronics
- Data cadence
- TW monthly revenue — MOPS, due the 10th (Taipei Exchange listing)
- Market cap band
- ~US$1.5–2B as of 2026-07
- English coverage
- 3 analysts per stockanalysis.com (S&P Global-polled) and Investing.com, 4 on TradingView's 3-month window (checked 2026-08-01); only Morgan Stanley is identifiable by name, so genuine English-language coverage is roughly 1–2. The EUV-consumable position is rarely described in English at all.
Cap band source: stockanalysis.com, TPEX:3680, read 2026-07-31 (NT$54–56B)
First note pending — no active Research Pack or public claim yet.
Research, not advice.
Graduation
Names leave this list in public.
The US$50B line is reviewed once a year. When a covered name grows past it, it leaves the covered list in public — the name, the review date, and the cap band that carried it over the line all stay on this page, along with every note and claim already published about it. A coverage list that only ever grows is not a rule, it is a habit.
8046.TW
Graduation reviewNan Ya PCB
Builds the ABF substrates and high-layer-count boards an accelerator package is mounted and routed on; substrate lines take years to add, so this step sets the ceiling on how fast a rack generation can ship.
- Market
- TW
- Depends on
- NVIDIA · TSMC
- Data cadence
- TW monthly revenue — MOPS, due the 10th
- Market cap band
- ~US$17–23B as of 2026-07
- English coverage
- Fails rule 4. The S&P Global poll via stockanalysis.com shows 11–12 contributing analysts, checked 2026-08-01. Some are local houses publishing in Chinese, but the covering set includes global banks distributing in English.
Cap band source: companiesmarketcap.com / stockanalysis.com, TPE:8046, read 2026-07-31 (NT$540–760B across July 2026)
Removed from the covered universe 2026-08-01 on rule 4, not rule 1. Admitted on an unverified reading of English-language coverage; a check against stockanalysis.com found 11–12 contributing analysts where we had asserted ≤5. A core ABF-substrate holding in global AI-hardware books is not an under-covered name. The published note and its claims stay public and stay tracked.
Read the research noteResearch, not advice.
3037.TW
Graduation reviewUnimicron
The largest supplier of the ABF substrate an accelerator die sits on; substrate capacity is the slowest thing in the packaging chain to expand, which makes it a scheduling constraint rather than a cost line.
- Market
- TW
- Depends on
- NVIDIA · TSMC
- Data cadence
- TW monthly revenue — MOPS, due the 10th
- Market cap band
- ~US$35–43B as of 2026-07
- English coverage
- Fails rule 4, by the widest margin on the list. stockanalysis.com shows 17 contributing analysts, checked 2026-08-01.
Cap band source: companiesmarketcap.com / stockopedia, TPE:3037, read 2026-07-31 (NT$1.14–1.34T across July 2026). Closest name to the US$50B line; first candidate for the next admission review.
Removed from the covered universe 2026-08-01 on rule 4, not rule 1 — though it was already flagged as the closest name to the US$50B cap. Admitted on an unverified reading of English-language coverage; a check found 17 contributing analysts where we had asserted ≤5. Anyone could have falsified that claim in thirty seconds, which is the point of publishing the rule. The published note and its claims stay public and stay tracked.
Read the research noteResearch, not advice.
4091.T
Graduation reviewNippon Sanso Holdings
Supplies the ultra-high-purity gases a fab consumes continuously and pipes on site; the supplier is qualified once per fab and rarely changed, so the contract outlives the equipment cycle.
- Market
- JP
- Depends on
- TSMC · Intel · Samsung Electronics
- Data cadence
- JP quarterly consolidated results — TDnet filing plus company IR release, roughly four to six weeks after quarter end
- Market cap band
- ~US$15–18B as of 2026-07
- English coverage
- Fails rule 4. The company's own IR page lists 8 covering securities firms / 9 analysts (as of January 2026), including Morgan Stanley MUFG, BofA Securities Japan, CLSA Japan and UBS Japan — at least four distribute in English.
Cap band source: stockanalysis.com / companiesmarketcap.com, TYO:4091, read 2026-07-31 (¥2.6T)
Removed from the covered universe 2026-08-01 on rule 4, not rule 1. A coverage check against the issuer's own analyst list (jp.nipponsanso.com/en/ir/stock/analyst.html, read 2026-08-01) found 8 firms / 9 analysts where we had asserted ≤5 English-language analysts. It is the world's number-four industrial-gas major, not a neglected name. The published note and its claims stay public and stay tracked; the name is not part of the covered universe.
Read the research noteResearch, not advice.
2383.TW
Graduation reviewElite Material (EMC)
Makes the high-speed copper-clad laminate an AI server board is pressed from; at the top signal grades the qualified supplier list is short, which turns a laminate into a scheduling constraint.
- Market
- TW
- Depends on
- NVIDIA · TSMC
- Data cadence
- TW monthly revenue — MOPS, due the 10th
- Market cap band
- ~US$52–56B as of 2026-07
- English coverage
- ≤5 English-language analysts publish regular research; Chinese-language sell-side coverage is far broader.
Cap band source: stockanalysis.com / tradingview, TPE:2383, read 2026-07-31 (NT$1.70–1.82T)
Graduation review 2026 — the cap band sits above the US$50B admission line at the 2026-07 check, after a very large twelve-month re-rating. Published notes and open claims on this name stay public and stay tracked; the name is not carried in the covered count until a review puts it back under the line.
Read the research noteResearch, not advice.
4063.T
Graduation reviewShin-Etsu Chemical
The largest supplier of the silicon wafers and photoresist that every leading-edge process starts from; qualification is measured in years, so the position sits underneath all three logic manufacturers at once.
- Market
- JP
- Depends on
- TSMC · Intel · Samsung Electronics
- Data cadence
- JP quarterly consolidated results — TDnet filing plus company IR release, roughly four to six weeks after quarter end
- Market cap band
- ~US$70–90B as of 2026-07
- English coverage
- Broad English-language sell-side coverage — it does not meet the under-covered rule either.
Cap band source: companiesmarketcap.com / stockanalysis.com, TYO:4063, read 2026-07-31 (¥11.5–14.5T across 2026)
Anchor-adjacent — graduation review 2026. The cap band is well above the US$50B admission line, and English-language coverage is broad, so the name fails rules 1 and 4. It stays on this page as a mapped dependency and keeps its published note; it is not part of the covered universe.
Read the research noteResearch, not advice.
Standing disclosures
Research, not advice. A name on this list is a name we commit dated, falsifiable claims about — it is not a recommendation, and no price levels are published.
EquityLayer's researchers may hold positions in covered names; positions, sizing, and timing are never published.
Every claim committed against a covered name is tracked in the public claim ledger, with the outcome recorded whether it lands or fails. The full list, including the rules and the graduation review, is also published for machines at /llms.txt and /llms-full.txt.
3 covered · 5 in graduation review · 5 demand anchors (context only). That is 8 companies in the coverage universe; anchors are the map it is defined against and are not counted as coverage. General information only, not investment advice.