Strategic teardowns of how the biggest tech companies actually make money. FAANG strategy, IPO & M&A breakdowns, and SaaS unit economics — operator depth, primary sources, no hot takes.https://siliconcent.comenhttps://siliconcent.com/posts/the-ai-infrastructure-market-maphttps://siliconcent.com/posts/the-ai-infrastructure-market-mapAI infrastructure is a vertical stack: chips, hyperscale capacity, model labs, apps. Value concentrates where supply is scarce. Read through the 2026 filings.Sat, 20 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTMarket Mapsaiinfrastructurenvidiacloudcapexmarket mapsupport@colsonsuperapps.com (Colson)https://siliconcent.com/posts/why-gross-margin-is-destiny-in-saashttps://siliconcent.com/posts/why-gross-margin-is-destiny-in-saasGross margin sets the ceiling on CAC payback, R&D budget, free cash flow, and valuation. Two SaaS firms with equal revenue but 80% vs 55% margin aren't the same.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTSaaS Economicsgross marginsaasunit economicsvaluationcac paybacksupport@colsonsuperapps.com (Colson)https://siliconcent.com/posts/usage-based-pricing-vs-seat-based-pricinghttps://siliconcent.com/posts/usage-based-pricing-vs-seat-based-pricingUsage-based pricing lifts net revenue retention but adds volatility. Seat-based is predictable but caps expansion. The choice is a strategy decision, not billing.Thu, 18 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTSaaS Economicspricingsaasunit economicsnrrmonetizationsupport@colsonsuperapps.com (Colson)https://siliconcent.com/posts/aws-margin-pressure-and-the-cloud-resethttps://siliconcent.com/posts/aws-margin-pressure-and-the-cloud-resetAWS revenue grew 20% but operating income only 14% in FY2025. The cloud reset is margin compression during the AI capex wave, read from the 10-K.Wed, 17 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTMarket Mapsawsamazoncloudmargincapexaisupport@colsonsuperapps.com (Colson)https://siliconcent.com/posts/apples-app-store-economics-under-pressurehttps://siliconcent.com/posts/apples-app-store-economics-under-pressureThe App Store is the highest-margin slice of Apple's Services engine, and it's exactly the slice the EU DMA, Epic, and the DOJ are prying open.Tue, 16 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTFAANG Strategyappleapp storeservicesregulationantitrustdmasupport@colsonsuperapps.com (Colson)https://siliconcent.com/posts/googles-ai-strategy-is-a-distribution-warhttps://siliconcent.com/posts/googles-ai-strategy-is-a-distribution-warGoogle's AI strategy isn't a better model, it's distribution: Search, Chrome, Android, Cloud. Read the playbook through Alphabet's filings and capex.Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTFAANG Strategygooglealphabetaidistributioncapexsearchsupport@colsonsuperapps.com (Colson)https://siliconcent.com/posts/apple-services-the-margin-engine-inside-iphonehttps://siliconcent.com/posts/apple-services-the-margin-engine-inside-iphoneApple Services revenue margin is 75.4%, turning a quarter of sales into 42% of gross profit. Read the margin engine through Apple's own FY2025 10-K.Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTSaaS Economicsappleservicesgross-marginapp-storeiphonesupport@colsonsuperapps.com (Colson)https://siliconcent.com/posts/netflix-ads-why-the-tier-changes-everythinghttps://siliconcent.com/posts/netflix-ads-why-the-tier-changes-everythingThe Netflix ad-supported tier isn't a discount: it's a margin-and-TAM play adding a second revenue stream per member. Read Netflix's own filings.Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTTech Businessnetflixadvertisingstreamingmarginsubscriptionsupport@colsonsuperapps.com (Colson)https://siliconcent.com/posts/metas-open-source-ai-strategy-explainedhttps://siliconcent.com/posts/metas-open-source-ai-strategy-explainedMeta's open-source AI strategy commoditizes the model layer, funded by a ~$200B ad engine. The full play, read through Meta's own SEC filings.Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTIPO & M&Ametallamaaiopen-sourceadvertisingcapexsupport@colsonsuperapps.com (Colson)https://siliconcent.com/posts/amazon-prime-and-the-subscription-flywheelhttps://siliconcent.com/posts/amazon-prime-and-the-subscription-flywheelThe Amazon Prime subscription flywheel: how a $49.6B fee buys frequency that monetizes through seller fees and ads, read through Amazon's filings.Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTMarket Mapsamazonprimeawsadvertisingflywheelmarketplacesupport@colsonsuperapps.com (Colson)