SpaceX, OpenAI IPO Trends Drive Capital Inflow to Asian AI Supply Chains
N.R. Finch
Planned IPOs by SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic are expected to unlock ~$70 billion in incremental AI capex beyond the existing $750 billion-plus hyperscaler commitment — and the money is flowing down the supply chain to Asian hardware makers far beyond the chip giants.
Where is the new money coming from — and where is it going?
The three IPOs are projected to add ~$70 billion in AI capital spending on top of $750 billion-plus in existing data-center commitments.
This means → it is not a reshuffling of existing capital — it is a fresh incremental injection into the entire Asian hardware supply chain.
IG International analyst Fabien Yip says the transmission effect "is already visible in the latest round of chipmaker earnings."
Chip giants are priced in — so where does the money go next?
TSMC, Samsung Electronics, and SK Hynix have entered the trillion-dollar market-cap club, but some investors now see valuations as stretched.
Eastspring Investments' Ken Wong says his team is underweight semiconductors and shifting to electronic-component makers.
In plain terms = the biggest chip stocks have already been bid up; smart money is rotating into the "supporting cast."
Which "supporting cast" names are drawing attention?
South Korea's Samsung Electro-Mechanics and Japan's Ibiden are among the top performers in the broadest MSCI Asia equity index this year.
IG's Yip also flags Japan's Toto — a bathroom-fixtures brand that supplies ceramic materials for chip-making equipment, a "far-end beneficiary" of the AI chain.
This reflects a clear pattern: capital is spreading from "companies that make chips" to "companies that supply parts to the chip makers."
Why are Taiwan's assemblers and designers in the spotlight?
Jupiter portfolio manager Sam Konrad favors Hon Hai Precision and Quanta Computer (server assembly) alongside chip designer MediaTek.
His logic: the AI capex cycle will run for years, and investors want names that benefit directly but still trade at modest valuations.
BNP Paribas Asset Management's Song Zhe argues the next leg "should be a stock-picker's market, not a blanket semiconductor trade."
Beyond chips and assembly, what is the biggest bottleneck?
GAM fund manager Jian Shi Cortesi calls power supply "the most under-owned bottleneck."
South Korea's HD Hyundai Energy Solutions (solar) and Daewoo E&C (nuclear) are among the top gainers in the Korean market this year; in India, the Adani Group is pushing into green-energy data centers, lifting its energy arm.
In plain terms = data centers need compute, compute needs power, and if power falls short nothing runs — so utility and energy stocks have become a new gateway to the AI theme.
What is the biggest risk in this trade?
Cortesi warns that the second phase of the AI boom may carry more risk than the first.
This means → if actual AI demand fails to match the spending, companies could cut capex, and the market would face infrastructure-overcapacity pressure.
This reflects a fragile underlying assumption: "AI spending only goes up." If that assumption cracks, the far-end beneficiaries will be hit first.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.