Hardware & Networking Pre-Quiet Period Catch-up Takeaways (CSCO, CRDO, DELL, P, HPE, HPQ, NTAP, NTNX, SMCI)

Research evidence excerpt

Hardware & Networking Pre-Quiet Period Catch-up Takeaways (CSCO, CRDO, DELL, P, HPE, HPQ, NTAP, NTNX, SMCI)

Joseph Cardoso AC North America Equity Research

(1-212) 622-9036 16 July 2026 J P M O R G A N

joseph.cardoso@jpmchase.com

total, NIC-to-TOR is expected to represent 20%+ of the market, per management, and

should be viewed as the primary opportunity. Management also noted broadening

customer interest for ZR optics, even among highly technical customers, with the solution

enabling enhanced reliability beyond what is achievable at the software or switch level

at those specific customers.

• Dust framed as a lever for both margin expansion and revenue synergy. By

integrating Dust's PIC with Credo’s DSP, a transition expected to take 6 to 12 mos due

to customer qualifications, it can eliminate the margin stacking as well as unlock

enhanced capabilities. Management noted genuine synergy opportunity supported by

meaningful customer overlap and hyperscalers' comfort with Dust under a larger, better-

capitalized owner, though it stressed the magnitude remains to be determined.

Encouragingly, Dust also brings strong hyperscaler relationships that management hopes

will deepen customer dialogue and potentially translate into large wins.

Dell (DELL)

• Structural demand, not just pull-forward, driving traditional server growth.

Traditional server growth reflects both a degree of pull-forward and, more importantly,

genuinely structural demand. The existing customer base is undertaking a multi-year

cycle of refreshing aging installed bases and modernizing data centers, with some

sophisticated buyers moving ahead of cost increases, while a new structural TAM

emerges around CPU demand for agentic workloads. Critically, Dell continues to see an