Nasdaq's AI-Driven Record Run Lifts Asia: What Savers Should Know
The Nasdaq closed at an all-time high on Sept. 23, 2026, as bets on artificial intelligence lifted U.S. and Asian equities. Al Jazeera The Nasdaq is a U.S. index with a heavy weight in technology companies.
The record followed a 2% surge to a record high in the prior session, when AI enthusiasm returned. Yahoo Finance Gains varied widely by stock in that session. Meta rose 11%, AMD gained 10% and Intel rose 12%.
The Nasdaq then notched another record high close, lifted by Micron Technology and other AI-related stocks. Reuters
South Korean stocks surged as strong U.S. tech earnings revived enthusiasm for artificial-intelligence spending. The Wall Street Journal South Korea, Taiwan and Japan were Asia's top three performing markets in the first half, driven by demand for AI components.
Taiwan's Taiex closed up 1.8%, led by TSMC's gains, in the same late-April session when the Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.4% to close above 60000 for the first time. An earlier milestone saw the benchmark Taiex end 0.6% higher at 24482.52, topping its previous closing high in July 2024.
The Taiwan Stock Exchange reported TAIEX rose from 22832.06 points at the beginning of the year to 28963.60 points by year-end, an increase of 6131.54 points. Taiwan Stock Exchange In its February 2026 monthly publication, the Exchange said TAIEX repeatedly set new records and surpassed the 30000-point milestone in early 2026. In its Sept. 18, 2026 weekly update, it reported TAIEX increased by approximately 2.16% that week and total market capitalization, the total value of listed companies, reached 154.32 trillion NTD.
On the earnings side, TSMC said sales from its high-performance computing segment, which includes AI chips, jumped about 28% from the previous quarter.
The broader context here is concentration. It works like a chain. U.S. plans for AI spending, what finance calls capex, help set the price investors will pay for future earnings, what finance calls the multiple. Earnings from Asian component makers then confirm or undercut that price, and index levels in Seoul, Taipei and Tokyo respond in sequence. That is why Taiwan and Korea often move as leveraged proxies for Nasdaq sentiment, with TSMC in the middle as the main pass-through for chip orders.
Looking at what this means for positioning, the structure cuts both ways. When earnings confirm spending, a narrow group of AI winners can pull indexes up quickly. That can help retirement balances tied to indexes, but it also leaves indexes exposed to estimate cuts if order momentum slows. The 28% quarterly jump, the 2.16% weekly move and the 154.32 trillion NTD capitalization describe realized strength. They do not settle forward pricing for AI hardware.
For risk management, three variables matter for savers to watch: whether earnings upgrades spread beyond a handful of AI winners, whether inventory and delivery-time signals in components stay normal, and whether currency and rate effects shift foreign money flowing to Asia. Record closes record outcomes. They do not remove duration risk, the risk that higher rates lower the value placed on distant growth, if discount rates shift.
