Asia’s AI rally is narrowing. But the opportunity is also broadening

ARTIFICIAL intelligence has changed the way investors look at Asian equities.

The first phase was easy to understand: buy the visible beneficiaries. These are the semiconductor leaders, memory makers, foundries, hardware suppliers and companies closest to global AI infrastructure spending.

That trade was not wrong. Taiwan and South Korea have become critical toll booths of the digital economy. The capital expenditure cycle is real: Goldman Sachs Global Institute estimates annual AI capital expenditure at US$765 billion in 2026, rising to US$1.6 trillion by 2031.