Asia Tech Fans its own AI bubble — Now Watch the Earnings

With input from Reuters and CNBC.

Asian markets opened with a spring in their step after Wall Street’s bounce, but don’t call this calm — it’s just the latest mood swing in the AI drama. The dollar slipped a touch, Treasury yields ticked up, oil was about +0.6%, and traders are basically assuming wild swings are the new normal.

Some winners are obvious: South Korea, Taiwan and Japan are cashing in because they make the gear that runs AI. Hardware spending = straight profit for their tech sectors right now.

Indexes were flashing green: the Kospi hit fresh highs this week and the Nikkei 225 is enjoying a rerating push from analysts who say Japan’s improving earnings and governance deserve higher multiples.

All eyes, though, are on one company. Nvidia reports later today, and the numbers — both the beat and the guidance — could snap markets one way or the other. Street models expect revenue to jump roughly 68% and profits to surge even more; the real headline will be whether Nvidia hands down gobs of durable, multi-year demand or hedges its words and spooks the tape.

The backstory: the hyperscalers are in full build mode. Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta Platforms have signaled massive AI capex plans this year — think hundreds of billions — and a chunk of that money flows straight into GPUs and data-center gear.

That dynamic helped lift other chip names overnight. AMD jumped after word of a multiyear deal with one of the big cloud builders, showing how a single hyperscaler’s spending plan can ripple across the sector.

On the US side, major indexes were up after the session: the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite both closed higher, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up ground too — proof the rally is tech-led but broadening a bit.

This rally feels equal parts enthusiasm and theater. If Nvidia’s print and guidance scream durability, the AI capex story keeps running. If the tone is cautious, expect another round of headline-driven turbulence. Either way, markets will keep treating every earnings call like a style-of-life test for the whole AI era.