Taiwan, South Korea lead global stocks amid AI surge; other nations lag

Fueled by the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, stock markets in Taiwan and South Korea are experiencing unprecedented growth, significantly outperforming global averages. Financial expert Yu Ting-hao highlighted that this surge is highly concentrated, with almost all the year's gains attributed to these two East Asian economies.

According to S&P Global data, South Korea's stock market has surged by an impressive 87.5% since the beginning of the year, securing the top spot globally. Taiwan follows closely, with a substantial 56.8% increase. In stark contrast, the U.S. S&P 500 has seen a more modest gain of 10.8%, aligning closely with the global average.

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Almost all the gains are concentrated in the two economies of Taiwan and South Korea.

The primary drivers behind this remarkable performance are key technology companies involved in AI infrastructure. Firms such as Taiwan's TSMC and MediaTek, alongside South Korea's memory chip giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, are positioned as major beneficiaries in the global race to build AI capabilities.

Conversely, several other markets are lagging behind, seemingly left behind by the AI wave. India's stock market has seen a decline of 7.1%, France is down 4.6%, and Hong Kong has dropped 1.4%. Germany's market has shown near-zero growth. Yu Ting-hao remarked on this divergence, drawing a parallel between historical European renaissances and the current "East Asian technological renaissance."

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Old times had the European Renaissance, now we have the East Asian technological renaissance.