Asian exchanges hit record after tech giants' reports
Asian stock markets surged on Friday, July 31, following strong financial results from US technology companies. The biggest jump was recorded in South Korea, where the Kospi index rose by 17.9% — its best single-day gain on record.
The main drivers of the growth were semiconductor manufacturers. Samsung Electronics shares rose about 28%, while SK Hynix gained 30%. These companies hold a significant share in the South Korean index and are key suppliers of memory chips for artificial intelligence systems.
The record surge came as a rebound after several sessions of large-scale sell-off. Investors feared that tech corporations' spending on data centers and AI infrastructure might not yield the expected profits. New reports from Microsoft and Amazon partially eased these concerns.
Microsoft reported that its quarterly revenue grew 18% to $90 billion. Azure and other cloud services revenue increased by 43%, while annual Azure revenue exceeded $100 billion for the first time. Microsoft's overall cloud business brought in $59.3 billion, a 27% increase year-over-year.
Amazon also showed acceleration in its cloud segment: Amazon Web Services sales rose 37% to $42.2 billion, the highest growth rate for AWS in the last 18 quarters. The company stated that its AI and proprietary processor businesses have each surpassed a $25 billion annual run rate.
The positive momentum spread to other Asian markets. Taiwan's Taiex rose almost 8% thanks to gains in TSMC, MediaTek, and other technology companies. Japan's Nikkei 225 added about 4%, driven in part by rising shares of semiconductor equipment makers.
Despite the record rebound, the Asian tech sector remains highly volatile. Future momentum will depend on whether major cloud companies can sustain rapid revenue growth and justify massive investments in AI infrastructure.
