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Asian Chip Stocks Rise on Alphabet's AI Spending Plans; China Shares Diverge
Summary
Semiconductor stocks in South Korea and Japan gained after Google-parent Alphabet boosted its capital expenditure forecast, while Chinese chipmakers fell amid new U.S. allegations of technology theft.
Asian semiconductor stocks rallied on Thursday after Alphabet Inc. raised its spending forecast, signaling robust future demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure. However, Chinese chip and AI-related shares underperformed significantly amid escalating technology tensions with the United States.
Alphabet Capex Boosts Sector
The positive sentiment was driven by Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), which increased its 2026 capital expenditure (capex) forecast to a range of $195 billion to $205 billion. This is a notable increase from its previous estimate of $180 billion to $190 billion, underscoring expectations for sustained investment in AI computing capacity.
The news lifted shares of major chipmakers who supply the components for data centers and AI hardware. Key regional movers included:
- SK Hynix (KS:000660): Jumped approximately 5%
- Samsung Electronics (KS:005930): Climbed more than 3%
- Advantest Corp (TYO:6857): Advanced 4.4%
- Rohm Ltd (TYO:6963): Added roughly 3%
China Stocks Falter on US Scrutiny
AdIn contrast, Chinese technology stocks faced heavy selling pressure following new allegations from Washington. A White House technology adviser accused Chinese firm Moonshot AI of stealing technology from Anthropic's Fable model to develop its Kimi K3 AI system. The U.S. Treasury Secretary also stated that trade restrictions and sanctions against the startup were under consideration.
These developments, coupled with a separate U.S. investigation into whether Chinese AI firms improperly accessed advanced American AI chips, weighed on investor sentiment. Hong Kong-listed shares of major Chinese semiconductor firms declined sharply:
- Hua Hong Semiconductor (HK:1347): Slumped more than 6%
- Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) (HK:0981): Fell 3.4%
- Z.AI (Zhipu AI) (HK:2513): Declined 3%
The diverging performance highlights how geopolitical factors are creating a split in the global semiconductor market, with U.S. spending benefiting allied nations while Chinese firms face increasing headwinds from trade restrictions.
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