Asia’s growth now belongs to Silicon Valley — SkimNews
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- AI-related goods account for more than 70% of export growth in Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines, while growth in other exports is weak or negative, according to the World Bank.
- Six of the region's economies shipped $1.4 trillion of AI hardware in 12 months — nearly all feeding a capital spending wave led by a handful of American tech giants equal to about 6% of US GDP.
- South Korea's September exports surged 83.5% to a record $120.9 billion, with half from chips, and two chipmakers now account for 43% of the Kospi's value.
- Central banks across the region will likely set interest rates on forecasts hinging on Silicon Valley's corporate guidance — a first — while finance ministries plan budgets around export revenue that assumes US capex keeps rising.
- Asian governments compete individually for every new plant, offering tax breaks and subsidies in a bidding war that favors buyers; the article argues that bargaining as a bloc would end the undercutting and set shared standards on energy, water, and land use.
- Nigel Green, founder and CEO of de Vere Group, argues the region spent 25 years post-1997 crisis building defenses against external shocks, but those protections are worth rebuilding now while orders still flow.
Why it matters: Trimming an order from a foreign supplier costs no American jobs and angers no American voters, making it the easiest saving a US tech CEO can find when shareholders eventually press for returns — and when those cuts come, the $1.4 trillion in AI hardware flows from six Asian economies drops first, with South Korea's chipmakers (43% of the Kospi) and Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines most exposed.
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