SpaceX and OpenAI are about to go public; Asian investors are "selling chips and buying bottlenecks," betting on a "new round of capital expenditures."
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The IPO plans of SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic are reshaping investors' logic in positioning Asian tech stocks.
The market generally expects that a new wave of capital expenditures generated by these three companies' fundraising will serve as a powerful catalyst for the Asian hardware supply chain, driving AI-themed trades to expand from leading chip stocks to broader segments such as electronic components, cooling equipment, and power infrastructure.
According to IG International Market Analyst Fabien Yip, the IPOs of these three companies combined could bring an additional $70 billion in AI spending, on top of more than $750 billion in capital expenditures already committed by major hyperscale cloud service providers. This could help alleviate concerns about the sustainability of AI infrastructure financing to some extent.
Chip Stock Valuations Under Pressure, Funds Seek New Opportunities
The surge in data center construction has made Asian hardware companies the core beneficiaries of this round of AI sentiment, but after rapid gains, valuation pressures are mounting for some mainstream stocks.
Ken Wong, Asia Equity Portfolio Specialist at Eastspring Investments Hong Kong, stated:
The AI IPO wave may further drive capital expenditure mania just as Asian chip stock valuations are already showing signs of overheating.
He revealed that his team is currently underweighting semiconductors in Asia tech strategies and instead focusing on electronic component manufacturers.
Fund concentration restrictions and single-stock position limits are also objectively driving fund managers to extend downstream in the supply chain.
Sam Konrad, portfolio manager at Jupiter Asset Management, favors the server assembly businesses of Hon Hai Precision and Quanta Computer, as well as the chip designer MediaTek, explaining:
The AI capital expenditure cycle will last several years, and investors tend to look for names that benefit directly but still trade at relatively low valuation multiples.
Supply Chain Bottlenecks Spread, Segmented Tracks Show Potential
As the semiconductor shortage spreads downstream from chips, supply-demand imbalances are intensifying, attracting capital to position early.
This year, leading performers in the MSCI Asia broad index include South Korea’s Samsung Electro-Mechanics and Japan’s Ibiden, both representative companies in server electronic components.
IG's Yip also mentioned Japanese bathroom brand Toto, which supplies ceramic materials for chip manufacturing equipment, positioning it as a "distal" beneficiary in the AI investment chain.
Song Zhe from BNP Paribas Asset Management believes that the next stage of the market "should be stock differentiation, not indiscriminate semiconductor buying."
His team focuses on Chinese companies in advanced packaging, substrates, testing, optical interconnects, power, cooling, and server-related fields, whose "earnings upgrades can continue to support valuations."
Power Supply Becomes Key Bottleneck, Energy Stocks Favored by Funds
The rapid expansion of data centers has made power supply the next significant bottleneck.
Nuclear and new energy are thus receiving more attention, especially as the Iran war pushes up oil prices, strengthening the clean energy substitution logic.
Korea's market is leading globally this year, with solar company HD Hyundai Energy Solutions and nuclear engineering firm Daewoo Construction among the top gainers.
In India, Adani Group is advancing the layout of green-powered data centers, boosting its energy segment and making it one of the few beneficiaries of the AI concept in the Indian market.
Jian Shi Cortesi, fund manager at GAM Asset Management, regards power as "the most underweight bottleneck segment," but also cautions: The uncertainty in the second phase of the AI trade is higher than in the first phase.
If real AI demand can't support the current investment scale, companies may cut capital expenditures, and the market will then face risks of infrastructure oversupply and significant valuation corrections.
Swiss-Asia portfolio manager Brian Ooi continues to focus on power equipment such as transformers, fuel cells, cables, and gas turbines, and views the financing actions of SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic as a positive signal for maintaining AI stock holdings. He said:
This will give them more ample liquidity to further invest in capital expenditures, from which Asian suppliers will benefit.
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