Editor’s Choice: For Asia in particular, the dot-com bubble and AI boom are different

Akito Tanaka shares his weekly reflections and recommendations Buying on the dip supported shares in Japan and South Korea on July 30 after the main Tokyo and Seoul indexes fell sharply over the past few days. © Reuters Hello from Tokyo. It was two months ago when I wrote a newsletter about Asia's "$1 trillion club." Driven by strong capital spending from major U.S. tech companies that are betting AI will remain a long-term growth story, share prices of Taiwan's TSMC as well as South Korea's Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix surged. All three companies surpassed the $1 trillion market capitalization mark, setting a milestone in Asian corporate history. SK Hynix, which reported earnings on Wednesday, posted a more than thirteenfold increase in net profit for the April-June quarter from a year earlier. Its operating margin reached 76%, a remarkable level for the capital-intensive industry. Revenue, operating profit and net profit all hit record quarterly highs, making it difficult to question the company's financial performance. Yet, SK Hynix's share price slipped following the earnings announcement. The reason? Its operating profit fell short of the average analyst forecast, despite astonishing growth.

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