Originally fromWSJ
Compiled by / Odaily Planet Daily Golem(@web 3_golem)
Na Se-bin has completely lost her sense of consumption.
Since January this year, attracted by the global artificial intelligence craze, she has invested almost her life savings (about $47,000) into the stock market, a boom that is driving tech giants in South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan to rake in huge profits.
The 24-year-old South Korean programmer says that during volatile market swings, she has made or lost the equivalent of a month's salary in a single second. Despite the enormous risks, she can't resist, especially after seeing the price of some stocks she held double. Over the past 18 months, the South Korean stock market has been one of the world's best performers, and Na and her colleagues joke that they should sell their underwear to buy more stocks.
“Even friends who never touched stocks before are now getting in,” Na said. “Everyone is speculating on something.”
Na Se-bin, a 24-year-old software developer in Seoul, started investing in January and quickly became addicted. (Photo credit: Tim Franco for The Wall Street Journal)
Trillions of dollars are pouring into the global build-out of artificial intelligence, which relies on semiconductors and chipmaking technology provided by a handful of Asian exporters. The surge in global chip demand seems endless, boosting exports, corporate profits, and the wealth of countless investors.
Even after recent pullbacks, Taiwan's stock market has still doubled in value over the past year, South Korea's has tripled, and Japan's Nikkei index has risen over 80% in the same period, triple the gain of the S&P 500.
The accelerating demand for AI-related products is stimulating investor enthusiasm and pushing up salaries. In Taipei, taxi drivers trade stocks while on the move, and in the job market, high salaries in the tech industry are the envy of many. Nowadays, one of the most effective pick-up lines in Taiwan is to tell someone you work at TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker and one of the most generous local employers. Employees at Samsung Electronics' memory chip division are expected to receive an average bonus of about $400,000 this year. The company expects its profits to surpass those of any global company except Nvidia by 2026.
Whether OpenAI's ChatGPT, Anthropic, and SpaceX can deliver on the promise of commercialized AI services, this segment of the tech industry seems destined to benefit. These Asian tech giants provide indispensable hardware for the AI industry, akin to the "shovel sellers" of the AI gold rush.
The four Silicon Valley hyperscale data centers—Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Amazon, and Alphabet's Google—plan to invest up to $670 billion this year in AI-related capital expenditures. This spending far exceeds the inflation-adjusted spending during the U.S. railroad expansion in the 1850s and the decades-long construction cost of the U.S. interstate highway system launched a century later.
According to an Allianz Trade report, global exports of AI-related products approached $4 trillion last year, with Asia accounting for two-thirds. These products include semiconductors, data storage servers, and cooling systems.
Market research firm Gartner predicts direct spending on AI (covering services, infrastructure, and software) will reach $2.6 trillion this year, a 47% increase from 2025. Next year, this number is expected to reach about $3.5 trillion.
Jensen Huang, CEO of top U.S. chip designer Nvidia, recently concluded an 18-day high-profile visit, attending a series of events, speeches, and business talks in Taiwan and South Korea.
In Taipei, convenience stores sell lottery tickets with a top prize of 500 shares of Nvidia stock. Huang announced plans to invest $150 billion annually in Taiwan, which he called the center of the AI revolution. In South Korea, Huang signed cooperation agreements with local companies in robotics, memory chips, and AI.
During Huang's visit to Seoul, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) halted trading on June 8 after plummeting over 8%, following a sell-off in U.S. chip stocks (including Nvidia). Unfazed by the drop even in Seoul's summer heat while wearing his signature leather jacket, Huang remarked on the price decline.
“Everyone should be very happy with the current stock prices,” he said, “because now you can buy stocks cheaper.”
2026 Ranking of Top 10 Global Stock Markets by Market Capitalization and Share of TSMC and SK Hynix in Their Respective Market's Total Value
Na only started trading stocks this year and estimates over 80% of her social circle actively invests, as do her colleagues. She says one colleague made enough money from stock investments to spend tens of thousands of dollars on an engagement ring.
Nowadays, Na is "generous" with concert tickets, designer clothes, and treating her parents to meals. She originally planned to buy a gold ring for her mother to celebrate her parents' 30th wedding anniversary but was turned down.
“She told me to just give her the cash,” Na said, “so she could buy stocks.”
The Deified TSMC
Yeh Lun-hao, a 37-year-old insurance agent, invests more than half of his roughly $2,100 monthly salary in local AI and chip-related companies. His investment returns have quadrupled, and he recently purchased a four-bedroom apartment worth about $440,000 in Taichung, Taiwan.
For years, his friends steered clear of stock market investing. Now, they come to him for investment advice.
Yeh Lun-hao, a 37-year-old insurance agent, sits in the lobby of his apartment building in Taichung, Taiwan. Lin Yifei for The Wall Street Journal
“None of this would be happening without semiconductors,” Mr. Yeh said. “Investing has given me a chance to escape the mere grind and enjoy the beauty of this world.”
TSMC is the primary driver behind Taiwan's stock market surge. According to tech market research firm Counterpoint Research, the company commanded over 90% revenue share in the most advanced chip manufacturing last year. TSMC is the world's seventh most valuable company, with a market capitalization exceeding $2.2 trillion, surpassing Tesla and Meta.
The company's stock price has more than doubled in the past year, propelling Taiwan's weighted stock index past peer markets like France, the UK, and India.
This chipmaker accounts for over 41% of the Taiwan Weighted Index. In comparison, the seven tech giants—Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta, and Tesla—combined make up about one-third of the S&P 500.
TSMC engineers can earn up to three times the base salary of equivalent positions at other companies. Choc Chiang, co-founder of the Taipei recruitment platform WeFer, says some managers poached by TSMC from smaller firms have seen salary increases of up to 30%.
Wang Can-long, owner of an upscale wine shop in Zhubei, Taiwan, has supplied TSMC on multiple occasions. He says he once sold a bottle of Napa Valley whiskey to TSMC founder Morris Chang. Nowadays, his shop is too small to meet TSMC's demand. “We look up to them,” he said, “with awe and respect in our hearts.”
Wang Can-long, owner of a wine shop in Zhubei, Taiwan, has sold large quantities of alcohol to TSMC. (Lin Yifei/The Wall Street Journal)
Wang Wei-wen earned an engineering degree in Taiwan. Part of his coursework involved visiting a TSMC factory where the base salary was around $62,000 a year. He said such a salary level was unheard of, “Every household talks about TSMC.”
He is now a graduate student at the University of Michigan, and TSMC recruiters have called him too. While Wang has concerns about the company's demanding work hours, he sees benefits beyond the hefty paycheck. The social status that comes with being a TSMC engineer is highly attractive to Taiwanese parents who are particular about their daughters' suitors.
Mr. Wang said: “Your opening line can simply be, 'You work at TSMC.'”
Products bearing the TSMC logo also command high prices in the secondary market. A rice cooker with the company logo and circuit board design sells for about $312 on e-commerce platforms, over four times the price paid by TSMC employees. Buyers scramble for TSMC-branded luggage, thermoses, and shoes. Even the packaging of holiday red envelopes received by TSMC employees can be sold online for nearly $15 each.
The Commoners' Carnival
The South Korean market is dominated by two chip giants, Samsung and SK Hynix, which hold leading positions in producing the two main types of memory chips for AI computing and data storage.
Customers line up outside a Cartier boutique inside Shinsegae Department Store in Seoul; Samsung Electronics campus. Tim Franco for The Wall Street Journal
Both companies recently surpassed the $1 trillion market capitalization mark, accounting for over half of the total market value of the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI). The KOSPI was the world's best-performing index last year and continues to lead global rankings this year.
Choi Sung-ho, 35, an ordinary elementary school teacher, is also a beneficiary of the South Korean stock market. Over the past year, his portfolio of South Korean stocks has grown nearly fivefold, exceeding $300,000, including investments in ETFs tracking semiconductor stocks. He says he has upgraded his mobile devices and plans to spend six figures on his next car, possibly a Mercedes-Benz S-Class or a Tesla Model X.
“Even the children at my school are saying their parents are happy with stock gains,” Choi said.
In the first quarter of this year, South Korean brokerage Toss Securities opened over 180,000 trading accounts for children aged 18 and under. These accounts require parental approval and allow children to trade independently. Recently, the company launched a promotion offering $14 in experience money to newly opened accounts for high school students.
On YouTube, channels like "ETF-explaining Bro" are among the emerging "finfluencers" offering market advice. Channel owner Park Soo-in says the channel has attracted over 127,000 subscribers since launching last July. “A lot of people seem to think this rally will continue,” she said.
The stock market rally has further boosted an already strong luxury market. The Cartier boutique inside a major Seoul department store is so crowded that part of its "D'Amour" jewelry collection is now only available online.
Lim Chae-hoon, sales manager at a BMW dealership in Seoul, says his customers often mention profits from the stock market rise. “There definitely are more people with money to spend now,” he said.
Lim Chae-hoon, sales manager at a BMW dealership in Seoul, says customers now feel they have money to spend. Tim Franco for The Wall Street Journal
In Japan, Toyota Motor held the title of most valuable company for 22 consecutive years but was dethroned this month by SoftBank Group, which has made massive bets on OpenAI and data centers.
SoftBank's reign didn't last long. Last Friday, a little-known memory chip maker, Kioxia, jumped to the top spot. A year ago, Kioxia's stock was around $14; now it's about $600. Kioxia's success has sparked investor hunting for the next company poised to become a stock market hit.
Even Japan's luxury bathroom fixture maker TOTO is profiting from the AI boom. Its high-tech ceramics are used to hold silicon wafers still during circuit etching. The company's stock has more than doubled.
Another company, Ajinomoto, which uses byproducts from its world-famous umami seasoning to make insulating films for AI chips, has seen its stock rise 50%.
Ryoki Nao, a 21-year-old top student in semiconductor engineering at a university in Kumamoto, Japan, sees his classmates investing, but he does not. While Ryoki Nao follows market trends, he plans to graduate, find a job, and then consider investing.
“I want to wait until I can earn a decent income myself before investing,” he said, but the market's frenzy might not wait for him.
