South Korea's chip exports hit a record $120.9bn in September as AI capital spending boosts manufacturing across Asia. South Africa's central bank hiked to 7.25%, and Mexico, Indonesia and India are all wrestling with the same high US Treasury yield backdrop.
AI hardware demand is showing up on the factory floor, with Korea’s new export orders the fastest since 2011 and Taiwan’s PMI climbing to 56.7 on chip and AI-related orders. Source
South Korea shipped a record $120.9bn worth of goods in September, up 83.5% year-on-year, with semiconductor exports alone jumping 263% to $60.3bn. That number is the cleanest read yet on where AI capital spending is landing in the real economy, and it frames almost everything else that happened across emerging markets this week.
