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StoneX Strategist Says AI Chip Surpluses in Korea and Taiwan Could Lift Gold and Bitcoin

October 7, 2026 at 17:10 EDT

Infra & Chips
Finance

A surge in AI semiconductor demand is turning South Korea and Taiwan's chip exports into a macro story, not just an earnings story. StoneX strategist Vincent Deluard has framed gold and bitcoin as possible indirect AI-boom plays, arguing that export windfalls and surplus savings may have to be recycled beyond the chip supply chain.

Oct. 7, 2026 | AI chip macro

The AI chip windfall has to go somewhere

Korea and Taiwan are recording exceptional export surpluses as AI infrastructure demand pulls in semiconductors, memory and servers. One market thesis says the savings spillover could reach gold and bitcoin.

$120.94B

Korea September exports

$60.30B

Korea chip exports

$82.4B

Taiwan August exports

$58.49B

Taiwan Q2 current account

Forecast surplus scale

Current-account surplus as a share of GDP, shown as stacked blocks.

>10%

Korea

>20%

Taiwan

Takeaway: the AI hardware cycle is large enough to move national balances, not only company earnings.

How the money moves

AI capex

Cloud and data-center spending

Chip orders

Foundry, HBM and servers

Surplus cash

Current-account windfall

Asset recycling

Equities, deposits, gold or bitcoin

Why bulls like it

It turns AI demand into a macro expression outside chip equities, backed by visible export, current-account and earnings data.

Why skeptics hesitate

The chain depends on capex, chip pricing, currency policy and where institutions or households recycle savings.

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