This week on Equity Mates

Hey there Equity Mate,

First things first, if you haven’t completed the Equity Mates Community Survey, please do. It helps us shape the future of Equity Mates and you could win $500.

It’s been a big week here at Equity Mates HQ. Bryce, a former Woolworths employee, is mourning the resignation of CEO Brad Banducci. Meanwhile Ren has been obsessed with OpenAI’s latest artificial intelligence breakthrough Sora.

For those who missed the launch of their new text-to-video generator, this was a good explainer: OpenAI’s new video generator Sora is both incredible and concerning.

And if you want to see the text-to-video functionality in action, check out the video we put together on Instagram.

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But by far the biggest thing that we’re celebrating this week is that we’re back from our Summer Series and gearing up for a big year. Here’s what we released this week:

• Equity Mates Investing (Apple | Spotify)

  • Monday: We're back with our Stock of the Year & Bold Predictions

  • Tuesday: Expert: Andrew Brown - Bold Predictions for 2024

  • Thursday: Earnings season takeaways, an ASX 10-bagger & community stock idea

• Get Started Investing (Apple | Spotify): 

  • Tuesday: How we're investing for 2024

Your questions, answered

Sophia asked via email:

Is robo-advising a good option for someone with no investment experience?

We put Sophia’s question to Luke Laretive, CEO & Portfolio Manager at Seneca Financial Solutions.

I wouldn’t think so. Half the battle for people who are first time investors is staying invested, being patient and handling drawdowns [a drawdown is a decline in value from it’s peak to the trough].

I think having a human, who you’ve got a relationship with and can help you manage not just your investments, but how you feel about them, is really important.

Even for more seasoned and savvy investors - who is your husband/wife/partner going to blame if you lose some/all of your hard-earned savings? The robot?

I think the value of humans is demonstrated by the fact that I’ve got several clients who are retired financial advisers . Once you’ve been in this business, I think you realise the value of creating some separation from your wealth – that objective, steady, voice of reason who you can rely on for data analysis and perspective. Perspective that perhaps you find hard to access now you spend 10 hours a week on the golf course, rather than working on the desk 10 hours a day.

If you’re just beginning, last week I answered about easy ways to get started. You can check it here.

If you would like Luke to book a time to review your portfolio, discuss the markets or help you with your financial goals, click here to get started. 

If you have a question you’d like answered, hit us up at ask@equitymates.com

Take the next step on your investing journey with Rask + Equity Mates courses

Together with Rask, we bring you the best courses to learn about the nitty-gritty of investing in shares and companies — from beginning to dividend.

For starters, we have the free Get Started Investing course. It covers all the basic of what is the stock market, how do I start investing and how do I build a portfolio.

For the more advanced investor, we have the highly-rated Value Investor Program. Normally priced a $499, we are excited to offer $100 off if you use the promo code: MATES.

What we’ve been reading

Sam Altman’s $7 trillion AI chip project might not be very realistic

Sam Altman, OpenAI’s co-founder and CEO, is ambitious. The man leading the company behind ChatGPT and DALL-E has got a side-project that he hopes will shape the global semiconductor industry. All he needs: $7 trillion in startup capital.

Yes, you read that right. $7 trillion. To put that in perspective: 

• 14x larger than the global semiconductor industry ($527 billion in sales last year)

• 5x all corporate-debt issued in the US last year ($1.44 trillion)

• Equivalent to the value of Apple, Alphabet and Microsoft, combined

• More than the GDP of all countries on earth aside from China and the US

• Equivalent to the combined GDP of India and the UK

• One-third of GDP of the US ($23 trillion)

So, QZ’s headline here “project might not be very realistic” is an understatement if we’ve ever read one. 

The motivation for this project is to develop the computing power required to scale the Artificial Intelligence revolution. Hundreds, if not thousands, of data centres are going to need to be built in the coming years to keep up with the compute demands of AI. What’s more the semiconductors required to fill these data centres are in even more demand. And at a $30 billion price tag to build a new semiconductor fabrication plant, the costs add up quickly. 

There is no way Sam Altman gets close to that number. And he wouldn’t have expected to. But it is a number that frames both the scale of the challenge and of his ambition. 

To put it in perspective, China has dedicated $150 billion to building its domestic chip industry without too much to show for it. Altman knows to revolutionise the global semiconductor industry, it’ll require an investment larger than the one China has made. 

Inside the plan to diagnose Alzheimer’s in people with no memory problems — and who stands to benefit

These scientists plan to diagnose people with Alzheimer’s if they have elevated levels of amyloid or tau - two proteins that been tied to Alzheimer’s - even if they have normal cognition and no memory complaints. 

The push to extend the diagnosis is intended to enable doctors to start treating patients earlier, before they start experiencing memory loss. Unsurprisingly, this plan has been incredibly controversial. Patients may be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and then never develop any dementia or cognitive impairment. And a diagnosis may lead to a patient preparing for a disease that never does eventuate. 

This article from the LA Times takes a look at the proposal and the controversy surrounding it. It also looks at the money behind the push to extend the diagnosis and some of the organisations that stand to benefit. 

This post contains sponsored content

Emyria: An ASX-listed company pioneering psychedelic-assisted therapies

Last year, we launched our new content series Uncovered. Across a podcast and on our website, we are taking a look at some of the smaller companies that don’t capture as much analyst or media attention. And the most recent company we’ve looked at is a fascinating one - Emyria (ASX: EMD) - a company that is developing new treatments and therapies with previously banned substances - CBD, MDMA and psilocybin.

In this article we take a look at the broader state of scientific research with some of these psychedelic-assisted therapies and the surprising results of some recent trials. These results led the Australian government to be the first in the world to reschedule MDMA and psilocybin, allowing it to start to be used in some controlled clinical applications by licensed professionals.

In that context, Emyria is working to bring these therapies to market and build a business around cutting-edge treatments. We take a look at the business and where it is trying to head next.

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