Corporate APAC Desk briefs, Country radar notes and sector signals
The sector seeks growth via digital services and capex reallocation; APAC remains a core vendor battleground.
Average equity gain +8.8% QoQ; IT/AI leads, autos negative, oil/steel/logistics near flat.
Market fragmentation and trade defence deepen supply-chain regionalisation; decarbonisation depends on state support.
Unprecedented data-centre and cloud demand collides with shortages of basic electronic components and long capacity lead times.
Memory shortage and price spikes; Apple/Samsung strengthen on a falling market, Huawei reclaims China leadership.
Middle East crisis redefines energy markets and sea routes; supply security is no longer a default assumption.
Samsung’s chip unit overtook TSMC on revenue; memory market caps surpassed major oil majors.
Big Pharma links localisation and innovation access to price predictability; interest in Chinese pipelines persists.
European crisis and Japanese OEM losses/decline; in Korea Chinese registrations overtook Japanese brands for the first time.
AI-demand supercycle, multi-year contracts, regionalisation; China builds a sovereign industry while Europe pivots to tech sovereignty.
The quarter’s index distinctive feature: emerging-company resilience gap vs Western peers in steel, autos and finance.
Chinese car share in Europe >10%; Chery/BYD/SAIC/Geely build or buy capacity to bypass EU tariffs.
Global Activity Index at 72% (+4 pp YoY), emerging-market lag, AI as investor driver, and key sector shifts in Q1–Q2 2026.