US hedge fund Appaloosa Management returned 32% in the first half of the year, with all the gains coming in the second quarter, according to a person familiar with the results.

The US$23 billion fund held about 40% of its assets in cash on average during the period.

The return was reported gross of fees because about 90% of Appaloosa’s capital belongs to founder David Tepper and other insiders after the firm said it would return most outside capital in 2019.

The biggest winners included Micron Technology, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics, South Korea’s SK Hynix, Japan’s Kioxia Holdings, and SanDisk.

Those chip stocks have been boosted by demand for AI computing, including high-bandwidth memory used in AI accelerators, which has tightened memory supply more broadly.

Separate industry analysis said server memory prices could sustain an upward trend as buyers prepare for potential shortages.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg