Rise of the AI Age— Global Implications
Summary
Rise of the AI Age— Global Implications
For additional details see: Technology: Rise of the AI Agent – Global Implications (19 Apr 2026)
Morgan Stanley does and seeks to do business with companies covered in Morgan Stanley Research. As a result, investors should be aware that the firm may have a conflict of interest that could affect the objectivity of Morgan Stanley Research. Investors should consider Morgan Stanley Research as only a single factor in making their investment decision.
AI Agent Architecture – CPU Orchestration, Memory and GPU Execution
Body
Rise of the AI Age— Global Implications
For additional details see: Technology: Rise of the AI Agent – Global Implications (19 Apr 2026)
MORGAN STANLEY & CO. INTERNATIONAL PLC+
Morgan Stanley does and seeks to do business with companies covered in Morgan Stanley Research. As a result, investors should be aware that the firm may have a conflict of interest that could affect the objectivity of Morgan Stanley Research. Investors should consider Morgan Stanley Research as only a single factor in making their investment decision.
AI Agent Architecture – CPU Orchestration, Memory and GPU Execution
AI Transitions from ‘Generation’ to ‘Autonomous’ Action in Agentic AI
Source: Morgan Stanley Research.
Enterprise context that grounds the answer in proprietary data
CPU Is the New Bottleneck in Agentic AI
Agentic AI Opportunity – Sizing the CPU and Memory TAM
• Agentic AI could add US$32.5-60bn CPU opportunity and 15-45EB of DRAM demand by 2030e
Source: Morgan Stanley Research estimates.
The Shift to Agentic AI in Numbers
Source: Morgan Stanley Research estimates.
Exposure to the Theme
Global Exposure Across the Stack? Names by exposure
| Global Exposure Across the Stack ? Names by exposure | |||||
| CPU | DRAM | NAND | HDD | FOUNDRY | IC-design |
| ·NVDA ·Intel ·AMD ·Arm | ·Samsung ·Hynix ·Micron | ·Kioxia ·SanDisk | ·Seagate ·WDC ·TDK | ·TSMC | ·GUC ·Egis |
| PCB/Substrate/CCL & Materials | BMC, CPU & Memory interface | ||||
| ·SEMCO ·Unimicron ·NYPCB ·Ibiden ·Nittobo ·MEC | ·Aspeed ·Renesas ·Montage ·WPG ·AP Memory | ||||
| MLCC & CPU socket | ODM | SPE | |||
| ·Murata ·TDK ·Yageo ·FIT Hon Teng ·Lotes | ·Wiwynn ·Hon Hai | ·ASML ·ASMi ·AMAT ·Besi ·KLAC ·Tokyo Electron ·Ulvac ·Wonik | |||
Source: Morgan Stanley Research.
For important disclosures, stock price charts and equity rating histories regarding companies that are the subject of this report, please see the Morgan Stanley Research Disclosure Website at www.morganstanley.com/eqr/disclosures/webapp/generalresearch, or contact your investment representative or Morgan Stanley Research at 1585 Broadway, (Attention: Research Management), New York, NY 10036 USA.
The following analysts hereby certify that their views about the companies and their securities discussed in this report are accurately expressed and that they have not received and will not receive direct or indirect compensation in exchange for expressing specific recommendations or views in this report: Cindy Huang; Ryan Kim; Shawn Kim; Duan Liu.
Global Research Conflict Management Policy
Morgan Stanley Research has been published in accordance with our conflict management policy, which is available at www.morganstanley.com/institutional/research/conflictpolicies. A Portuguese version of the policy can be found at www.morganstanley.com.br
Important Regulatory Disclosures on Subject Companies
Morgan Stanley and its affiliates do business that relates to companies/instruments covered in Morgan Stanley Research, including market making, providing liquidity, fund management, commercial banking, extension of credit, investment services and investment banking. Morgan Stanley sells to and buys from customers the securities/instruments of companies covered in Morgan Stanley Research on a principal basis. Morgan Stanley may have a position in the debt of the Company or instruments discussed in this report. Morgan Stanley trades or may trade as principal in the debt securities (or in related derivatives) that are the subject of the debt research report. Certain disclosures listed above are also for compliance with applicable regulations in non-US jurisdictions.
Certain disclosures listed above are also for compliance with applicable regulations in non-US jurisdictions.
Morgan Stanley uses a relative rating system using terms such as Overweight, Equal-weight, Not-Rated or Underweight (see definitions below). Morgan Stanley does not assign ratings of Buy, Hold or Sell to the stocks we cover. Overweight, Equal-weight, Not-Rated and Underweight are not the equivalent of buy, hold and sell. Investors should carefully read the definitions of all ratings used in Morgan Stanley Research. In addition, since Morgan Stanley Research contains more complete information concerning the analyst's views, investors should carefully read Morgan Stanley Research, in its entirety, and not infer the contents from the rating alone. In any case, ratings (or research) should not be used or relied upon as investment advice. An investor's decision to buy or sell a stock should depend on individual circumstances (such as the investor's existing holdings) and other considerations.
Global Stock Ratings Distribution
(as of March 31, 2026)
Based below apply to Morgan Stanley's Fundamental Equity Research and do not apply to Debt Research produced by the Firm.
For disclosure purposes only (in accordance with FINRA requirements), we include the category headings of Buy, Hold, and Sell alongside our ratings of Overweight, Equal-weight, Not-Rated and Underweight. Morgan Stanley does not assign ratings of Buy, Hold or Sell to the stocks we cover. Overweight, Equal-weight, Not-Rated and Underweight are not the equivalent of buy, hold, and sell but represent recommended relative weightings (see definitions below). To satisfy regulatory requirements, we correspond Overweight, our most positive stock rating, with a buy recommendation; we correspond Equal-weight and Not-Rated to hold and Underweight to sell recommendations, respectively.
Morgan Stanley | RESEARCH
| Coverage Universe | Investment Banking Clients (IBC) | Other Material Investment Services Clients (MISC) | |||||
| Stock Rating Category | Count | % of Total | Count | % of Total IBC | % of Rating Category | Count | % of Total Other MISC |
| Overweight/Buy | 1534 | 42% | 461 | 50% | 30% | 698 | 43% |
| Equal-weight/Hold | 1573 | 43% | 372 | 40% | 24% | 716 | 44% |
| Not-Rated/Hold | 4 | 0% | 1 | 0% | 25% | 1 | 0% |
| Underweight/Sell | 568 | 15% | 89 | 10% | 16% | 209 | 13% |
| Total | 3,679 | 923 | 1,624 | ||||
Data include common stock and ADRs currently assigned ratings. Investment Banking Clients are companies from whom Morgan Stanley received investment banking compensation in the last 12 months. Due to rounding off of decimals, the percentages provided in the "% of total" column may not add up to exactly 100 percent.
Overweight (O). The stock's total return is expected to exceed the average total return of the analyst's industry (or industry team's) coverage universe, on a risk-adjusted basis, over the next 12-18 months.
Equal-weight (E). The stock's total return is expected to be in line with the average total return of the analyst's industry (or industry team's) coverage universe, on a risk-adjusted basis, over the next 12-18 months.
Not-Rated (NR). Currently the analyst does not have adequate conviction about the stock's total return relative to the average total return of the analyst's industry (or industry team's) coverage universe, on a risk-adjusted basis, over the next 12-18 months.
Underweight (U). The stock's total return is expected to be below the average total return of the analyst's industry (or industry team's) coverage universe, on a risk-adjusted basis, over the next 12-18 months.
Unless otherwise specified, the time frame for price targets included in Morgan Stanley Research is 12 to 18 months.
Attractive (A): The analyst expects the performance of his or her industry coverage universe over the next 12-18 months to be attractive vs. the relevant broad market benchmark, as indicated below.
In-Line (I): The analyst expects the performance of his or her industry coverage universe over the next 12-18 months to be in line with the relevant broad market benchmark, as indicated below.
Cautious (C): The analyst views the performance of his or her industry coverage universe over the next 12-18 months with caution vs. the relevant broad market benchmark, as indicated below.
Benchmarks for each region are as follows: North America - S&P 500; Latin America - relevant MSCI country index or MSCI Latin America Index; Europe - MSCI Europe; Japan - TOPIX; Asia - relevant MSCI country index or MSCI sub-regional index or MSCI AC Asia Pacific ex Japan Index.