In recent months, ‘growth’ has not been enough to describe the export performance of Asian economies.
From Northeast Asia to Southeast Asia, from chip factories to port terminals, from electronic manufacturing to logistics transportation, the entire Asian industrial chain seems to have entered a long lost busy state, with exports from multiple economies growing rapidly.
And the biggest driving force among them is AI.
01 collective frenzy
Almost the entire Asia is on the rise.
Chinese Mainland. According to data from the General Administration of Customs, China’s goods trade exports reached 11.91 trillion yuan in the first five months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 11.8%. Among them, the export of electromechanical products reached 7.58 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.4%, accounting for over 60% of the total export value and becoming the core support for foreign trade growth.
Taiwan, China In the first five months of 2026, cumulative exports amounted to 341.83 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 48.7%; In May alone, exports reached 78.48 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 51.7%, setting the second highest record for a single month in history.
The data from Asian countries outside of China is also very impressive.
The performance of South Korea is the most stunning.
In May 2026, South Korea’s export value reached 87.75 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 53.2%, setting a historical high for a single month and the highest growth rate in over 40 years. Among them, semiconductor exports reached 37.16 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 169.4%, accounting for over 40% of the country’s total exports; Driven by the demand for AI servers, computer exports have surged by 290.7%.
Southeast Asia is also experiencing a series of exciting performances. Vietnam’s exports increased by 19.5% year-on-year in the first five months; Malaysia’s overall exports in the first quarter of 2026 increased by 12.7% year-on-year; Singapore’s domestic electronic product exports increased significantly by 57.8% year-on-year in the first quarter, with integrated circuit exports rising by as much as 80.6%.
What is even more noteworthy is that the fastest growing areas in this round are almost highly consistent.
The fastest growth in Chinese Mainland is electromechanical equipment and electronic products. Taiwan, China benefits from the export of AI chips and servers.
Outside of China, the fastest growing industries in South Korea are semiconductor and AI server related products, while Malaysia and Singapore also benefit the most from the electronics industry chain.
In other words, the real drivers of this round of export growth in Asia are not traditional foreign trade products such as clothing, furniture, and toys, but chips, servers, electronic components, and computing power equipment.
Behind these industries, they all point to the same keyword that is sweeping the globe, AI。
02 US investment, Asian orders accepted
Behind the AI driven export boom in Asia is the continued expansion of capital expenditures by American tech giants.
In the past two years, the competitive focus of American tech giants has completely shifted towards AI.
Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Amazon are accelerating the construction of data centers, purchasing AI servers, and expanding their computing power networks. Multiple institutions predict that the capital expenditures of these four tech giants alone will exceed $700 billion by 2026, mainly invested in the construction of AI data centers, servers, and advanced chips.
And these hardware components precisely constitute the industry chain that Asia excels in.
The first beneficiary is Taiwan, China, China. The vast majority of the top advanced AI computing chips currently used for large model training worldwide are manufactured by TSMC. In addition to chips, companies such as Foxconn, Guangda, and Wistron (Wistron) have long been at the core of the global AI server supply chain. Xinxing Electronics is deeply involved in high-end PCBs and chip carriers, while Delta Electronics has leading advantages in server power supplies and liquid cooling heat dissipation.
Chinese Mainland has the most complete electronic manufacturing system in the world and is becoming the main force of AI infrastructure. Server chassis, high-power power supply, liquid cooled cooling module PCB、 The complete set of AI hardware components, including optical modules and various electronic components, are mostly localized for mass production and supply.
Represented by such enterprises as Industrial Fulian, Inspur Information, Zhongji Xuchuang, New Yisheng, Shanghai Electric Power Co., Ltd., Shennan Circuit, Invik, etc., Chinese Mainland has formed an AI hardware industrial cluster covering the manufacturing of server complete machines and the supply of supporting parts.
South Korea has benefited from the storage chip dividend. The current global high bandwidth memory (HBM) market is mainly dominated by South Korean companies SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics, and Micron from the United States, with Hynix and Samsung holding an absolute advantage. With the rapid growth of demand for AI servers, the South Korean storage chip industry has entered a high prosperity cycle again.
Downstream of the industrial chain, Vietnam mainly undertakes the assembly process of AI complete machine terminal, represented by Foxconn and other enterprises, but most of the key parts required by servers still rely on the supply of Chinese Mainland. Malaysia undertakes a large amount of chip backend packaging and testing business, and international semiconductor companies such as Intel and Sun Moon have established important production bases in the local area. Singapore, relying on its well-established port logistics, cross-border finance, and international trade network, has become a key transit hub for the entire regional computing power supply chain.
In other words, for every data center built by American tech giants, there is a supply chain network spanning across Asia. Every additional batch of AI server purchase orders will drive the synchronous operation of multiple links such as chips, storage, electronic components, packaging and testing, and logistics.
Not only that, the huge electricity demand brought by AI is also creating new growth opportunities for the manufacturing industry in Asia. With the accelerated construction of global data centers, the demand for transformers, switchgear, power automation systems, and transmission and distribution infrastructure continues to grow.
As a major global manufacturer of power equipment, China is becoming an important beneficiary of this round of AI power investment. Represented by companies such as TBEA, Chint Electric, and Guodian Nanrui, Chinese enterprises are deeply involved in the construction of global data center supporting power infrastructure.
03 New growth engine?
AI driven new round of economic growth and transformation is a global consensus, and it has already happened and is happening now.
As the core infrastructure construction of AI transformation, it will first explode and maintain high prosperity for a considerable period of time.
At the beginning of this year, Nvidia CEO Huang Renxun defined AI as the largest infrastructure construction in human history at the Davos Forum in Switzerland, and stated that there will still be trillions of dollars worth of AI infrastructure to be built globally in the coming years.
Goldman Sachs predicts that the capital expenditure of ultra large data center operators is expected to reach $1.1 trillion by 2027, and in an optimistic scenario, it may even reach $1.4 trillion.
In addition, Morgan Stanley pointed out that the computing power competition among global tech giants is still escalating, and data center capital expenditures are expected to maintain a high growth trend in the coming years.
Apart from the United States, with the deepening of AI, other countries around the world will also gradually increase their investment in AI, thereby creating opportunities for the entire industry chain.
This means that the above-mentioned export growth is unlikely to be a flash in the pan, but will continue for a considerable period of time.
Of course, there are also hidden risks behind this.
Firstly, there is a possibility of a slowdown in AI infrastructure in the United States. At present, global AI is mainly led by China and the United States, and the main driver of Asian exports is the US market. Once some American tech giants shrink their capital expenditures due to pressure on free cash flow and lower than expected returns on AI investments, the complete AI hardware export industry chain in Asia will face periodic fluctuations in orders.
Secondly, there is the risk of overcapacity caused by excessive expansion of production by Asian companies. Currently, companies such as TSMC, SK Hynix, and Samsung Electronics have all set historical highs in annual capital expenditures. If the growth rate of demand is not as fast as the release rate of production capacity, history may repeat itself in the AI hardware field, just like the cyclical adjustments experienced by the lithium battery and photovoltaic industries.
The worst-case scenario is that both of the above events occur simultaneously. At that time, under the dual killing of supply and demand, order contraction and price war will go hand in hand, and enterprises lacking core technological barriers will face severe challenges.
Anyway, AI is the trend, and Asia, with decades of industrial accumulation, will play a key role in AI infrastructure and share the development dividends. The Chinese related industries, which already have a huge domestic demand market, are also expected to cultivate a group of new giant enterprises.
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