South Korea, Taiwan surpass Japan in exports for first time, driven by AI chip demand

Asian technology stocks surged on Thursday, August 6, after a powerful Wall Street rally driven by strong corporate earnings and easing oil prices pushed major U.S. indexes to fresh record highs. The gains underscored how deeply Asian chipmakers are intertwined with the global AI spending boom — a dynamic further highlighted by new data showing South Korea and Taiwan surpassed Japan in total exports for the first time during the first half of 2026.

SoftBank Leads Regional Rally

SoftBank Group led the advance, jumping nearly 14%, buoyed by overnight gains in Arm Holdings ↘ 1.43%, its majority-owned chip design subsidiary, which rallied on optimism over rising AI-related data center royalties. Semiconductor testing equipment maker Advantest climbed 8.77%, while Tokyo Electron gained 3.26%.primexbt+1

In South Korea, SK Hynix ↘ 3.92% rose 5.77%, Samsung Electronics advanced more than 2.5%, and Seoul Semiconductor jumped 6.73%. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. ↗ 0.44% climbed 3.66%.cnbc+1

Andrew Jackson, strategist at Ortus Advisors, said in a note Wednesday that the overnight surge in U.S. chipmakers "reinforced the bullish outlook for Asian AI names," and predicted SoftBank would extend its gains given Arm's expanding role in AI server architectures.primexbt+1

Record Highs on Wall Street

The Asian gains followed a session in which the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at fresh record highs on Wednesday, August 5, with the Dow surpassing 54,000 for the first time. The Nasdaq Composite surged 2.59%, powered in part by Palantir Technologies ↗ 10.32%, which jumped more than 29% after reporting second-quarter revenue that climbed 93% year-over-year.cnbc+3

Oil prices fell sharply after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC there was "a chance we may have a deal today or tomorrow" with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Lower crude prices eased inflationary concerns and reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve may hold off on further tightening.thehill+2

AI Boom Reshapes Asian Trade

Separately, a Nikkei analysis published Thursday showed that South Korea's exports in the first half of 2026 reached $496.3 billion and Taiwan's hit $416.6 billion, each surpassing Japan's $384.4 billion for the first time. Semiconductors accounted for roughly 30% of total exports in both countries, with South Korea's integrated circuit exports alone hitting $149 billion — already exceeding its full-year 2025 total. Japan's IC exports, by contrast, stood at just $21.2 billion, about 5% of its total.mk

The divergence illustrates how the AI-fueled demand cycle has tilted trade flows toward nations housing the world's most advanced memory and logic chip production, while Japan's strength remains concentrated in semiconductor equipment.bloomingbit