SpaceX, OpenAI go public: Asians bet on "a new round of capital expenditure"

SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic's IPO plans are reshaping investors' logic for allocating to Asian tech stocks.

Market participants generally expect that the new wave of capital expenditure driven by these three companies' fundraising will serve as a strong catalyst for Asia's hardware supply chain, promoting AI-themed trading from leading chip stocks to a broader range of electronic components, cooling equipment, power infrastructure, and other niche sectors.

According to IG International market analyst Fabien Yip's estimates, the combined IPOs of these three companies could trigger an additional $70 billion in AI spending. Coupled with the over $750 billion in capital expenditure already committed by major hyperscale cloud service providers, concerns about the sustainability of AI infrastructure financing are expected to be somewhat alleviated.

Chip stocks under valuation pressure, capital seeking new hotspots

The wave of data center construction has made Asian hardware companies the core beneficiaries of this round of AI market rally, but after rapid growth, valuation pressures on some mainstream targets are accumulating.

Ken Wong, Asia stock portfolio expert at Eastspring Investments Hong Kong, said:

AI IPOs may further drive capital expenditure booms at a time when valuations of Asian chip stocks are already high.

He revealed that his team is currently underweight semiconductors in their Asian tech strategy, shifting focus toward electronic component manufacturers.

Restrictions on concentration of funds and single-stock holding limits are also objectively pushing fund managers to extend into downstream supply chain segments.

Sam Konrad, portfolio manager at Jupiter Asset Management, is optimistic about Foxconn Technology and Quanta Computer's server assembly businesses, as well as chip design company MediaTek, reasoning that:

The AI capital expenditure cycle will last for several years, and investors tend to look for targets that benefit directly but still have relatively low valuation multiples.

Supply chain bottlenecks spreading, niche segments showing their strengths

As semiconductor shortages extend from chips to downstream, supply-demand imbalances are intensifying, attracting early investment.

Since the beginning of this year, leading stocks in the MSCI Asia Broad Market Index, including South Korea's Samsung Electronics and Japan's Ibaraki Electric, are representative companies in the server electronic component field.

Yip from IG also highlighted Japan's Toto, a bathroom brand that supplies ceramic materials to chip manufacturing equipment, as a "remote" beneficiary in the AI investment chain.

Song Zhe from Paris Asset Management in France believes that the next phase of the market "should be a stock-specific divergence rather than indiscriminate buying of semiconductors."

His team is focusing on Chinese companies in advanced packaging, substrates, testing, optical interconnects, power, cooling, and server-related fields, where "earnings upgrades can still support valuations."

Power supply becomes a key bottleneck, energy stocks attract capital

The rapid expansion of data centers has made power supply the next significant bottleneck.

Nuclear energy and new energy sources are therefore gaining more attention, especially amid the Iran war pushing oil prices higher, further strengthening the logic of clean energy substitution.

South Korea's market leads globally this year, with solar energy company HD Hyundai Energy Solutions and nuclear engineering firm Daewoo Engineering among the top gainers.

In India, Adani Group is advancing its green power data center layout, boosting its energy sector and becoming one of the few AI concept beneficiaries in the Indian market.

Jian Shi Cortesi, fund manager at GAM Asset Management, views power as "the most underweighted bottleneck sector," but also warns of higher risks in the second phase of the AI rally compared to the first.

If actual AI demand cannot support current investment scales, companies may cut capital expenditure, risking infrastructure oversupply and significant valuation corrections.

Brian Ooi, portfolio manager at Swiss-Asia, remains focused on power equipment sectors such as transformers, fuel cells, cables, and gas turbines, and views SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic's fundraising activities as positive signals for continuing to hold AI stocks. He said:

This will provide them with more liquidity to further invest in capital expenditure, and Asian suppliers will benefit from this.