A trio of chipmakers pushed Asian indices to an all-time high
29 April 17:50
On April 28, 2026, the MSCI Emerging Markets Asia Index closed at a record high, posting a 19.7% gain for April. This marks the strongest monthly performance since June 1999. The growth was largely driven by three Asian chip manufacturers. This was reported by European Business Magazine, as cited by "Komersant Ukrainian".
“TSMC posted a 24.9% gain over the month, closing at a record high on the Taiex. South Korea’s KOSPI rose more than 30%, reaching its best performance since January 1998 thanks to Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. The latter company alone jumped 7.8% in a single Tuesday, reaching a new high,” the publication writes.
Impact on global indices
The MSCI EM Index has risen 16% since the start of the year, more than triple the S&P 500’s 5% gain over the same period.
Earnings forecasts for emerging market companies have been revised upward by 30% for 2026, significantly exceeding the 10% growth projected for their U.S. counterparts.
Nearly all of the earnings momentum is tied to AI-driven growth in demand for semiconductors from giants such as Nvidia, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon.
The MSCI EM Index is now structurally dominated by five companies: TSMC, Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Hon Hai Precision Industry, and Xiaomi—together they account for 32.4% of the index.
TSMC reported a 40.6% increase in revenue in the first quarter of 2026, exceeding growth expectations by 58%.
“The company also announced that its capital expenditure plan for 2026 will rise to $52–56 billion. SK Hynix’s projected capital expenditures for 2026 amount to $32 billion, while Samsung Electronics is allocating over $40 billion to expand memory capacity,” according to an article in European Business Magazine.
The combined capital expenditure commitments of the three companies for 2026 are estimated at $128 billion.
According to Counterpoint Research, memory chip prices, which have already risen through 2025, could climb another 40% by the second quarter of 2026.
“The pricing power currently enjoyed by Asian chip manufacturers is the strongest it has been since 2018,” notes European Business Magazine.
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The Impact of Geopolitics
April’s growth was also supported by “tailwinds from the war in Iran.” While the conflict in the Middle East has driven down the stock prices of European and American energy companies, Asian semiconductor markets have remained shielded from supply disruptions.
European institutional investors who invest in emerging markets through passive funds are, in fact, gaining concentrated exposure to artificial intelligence infrastructure.
“They are gaining concentrated exposure to AI infrastructure, disguised as something else,” the publication asserts.
As a reminder, global markets started the week with mixed signals: Brent crude jumped to a three-week high due to tensions surrounding Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, while tech stocks are rising on a wave of optimism regarding artificial intelligence.
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