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Alphabet's AI spending shock reaches South Korea's chip stocks

MBC's economic reports connect Wall Street's cash-flow concerns with Korean market swings, shareholder payouts and the growing demand for electricity.

Channel: MBCNEWS ·

South KoreaStory of October 31, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? One of MBCNEWS's most watched videos since yesterday, with 216,638 views.

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"하루 새 670조 증발" '어닝미스' 알파벳 충격, 'AI 투자'에 현금 바닥..빅테크 줄줄이 비상 - [핫이슈PLAY] MBC뉴스 2026년 10월 30일

Things we can learn from the video

Press to jump

0:33MBC attributes Alphabet's market-value loss to disappointing earnings, rising AI costs and slower advertising growth.
2:34Korean shares fall sharply, triggering a sell-side sidecar as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix decline.
4:40Separate reports contrast Samsung's delayed shareholder-return details with SK hynix's substantial payout announcement.
9:22Another report links a KOSPI rebound to SK hynix's sold-out high-bandwidth memory supply.
11:35Anthropic's reported listing ambitions precede coverage of Big Tech's growing demand for renewable electricity.
16:01The final reports examine technology debt, Nasdaq losses and inflation pressures linked to rising oil prices.

Record chip sales do not necessarily mean rising share prices. South Korea's Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) examines that disconnect in a collection of economic reports linking American technology companies' AI spending to volatility among their Korean suppliers.

The opening report says Alphabet, Google's parent company, lost roughly 670 trillion won in market value in a day after earnings disappointed investors. New York correspondent Son Byung-san describes rising AI investment costs alongside slowing advertising revenue. The question running through the coverage is no longer simply whether AI businesses are growing, but whether their earnings can justify the cash being spent.

Reporter Shin Su-a follows the repercussions in South Korea, where the KOSPI stock index fell more than 5% during trading, triggering a sell-side "sidecar," a temporary restriction on certain program-trading orders. Samsung Electronics and SK hynix both declined in that report. Hana Securities analyst Lee Jae-man cautions that a slowdown in technology investment would not necessarily be reassuring either, given what that spending means for suppliers.

The compilation then brings together separate reports showing why the Korean chipmakers' fortunes cannot be reduced to a single market move. Samsung's record quarterly operating profit was accompanied by a falling share price, which MBC links to the postponement of specific shareholder-return measures. SK hynix, by contrast, received a positive market response to record revenue and a substantial shareholder-return announcement.

Another segment reports a KOSPI rebound following SK hynix's announcement that its high-bandwidth memory supply was sold out for three years. These are distinct reports within the collection, rather than a continuous account of one trading session. Together, they show the tension between strong demand for AI hardware and doubts about whether the companies buying it can sustain their spending.

The scope widens beyond chips. Correspondent Shin Jae-woong reports that Claude developer Anthropic is pursuing a Nasdaq listing at a target valuation of $2 trillion. Reporter Ryu Hyun-jun examines technology companies' purchases of renewable electricity to meet AI's power needs, including pressure on Korean business partners to secure renewable energy themselves.

The closing reports return to financial risks: technology-sector borrowing, falling Nasdaq shares and the possibility of higher interest rates as Middle East conflict pushes up oil prices and inflation. MBC presents these as overlapping pressures on Asian markets, where even strong corporate results may not settle investors' doubts about sustainable profits.