Global stock markets rise as investors continue to bet on AI

Global stock markets have climbed as investors continue to bet on bright prospects for the tech giants driving the AI boom.

Key points

• Global AI investment is forecast to hit $2.7 trillion in 2026 and $3.6 trillion in 2027, according to Gartner, a technology insights firm.
• While the narrower Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.03 percent, the benchmark S&P 500 rose 0.6 percent.
• While the TAIEX in Taipei was up 1.32 percent, in Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei 225 was up 1.26 percent.
• While Apple and Alphabet gained 0.93 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively, amazon gained 1.61 percent.
• Gains continued in the Asia Pacific on Wednesday, with stock markets in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Australia climbing.

In the United States, all three major stock indexes rose on Tuesday, led by the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite. It gained 1.18 percent.

Five of the "Magnificent Seven" tech stocks rose, led by Tesla, up 4.04 percent.

Nvidia, the world's most valuable public firm, rose almost 1 percent after announcing a $3bn investment in Meta's equity offering. While Microsoft fell 0.24 percent, meta fell 1.64 percent.

Other major movers in tech included Advanced Micro Devices, Broadcom and Intel. It gained 5.45 percent, 4 percent and 3.61 percent, respectively. Asia Pacific markets rally.

Notably, the KOSPI in Seoul led the gains, with the benchmark index up 5.84 percent as of 03: 00 GMT.

Meanwhile, the surge came as South Korea's SK Hynix, one of the world's top three memory chip makers, confirmed blockbuster third-quarter results on Wednesday, with operating profit soaring concerning 630 percent year-on-year to 83.33 trillion won ($62.8bn).

SK Hynix shares listed in South Korea surged more than 8 percent after the results.

For context, the S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney was up 0.11 percent.

Investors are keenly anticipating upcoming earnings reports from major tech players as they try to gauge whether their massive investments in AI will pay dividends.

Microsoft and Alphabet report their latest results on Wednesday, followed by Amazon on Thursday and Apple on Monday.

On Monday, AI giant Anthropic filed paperwork for its hotly anticipated IPO, reporting a net loss of $80.7bn in the first half of 2026 on $16.3bn in revenue.

Tech firms have poured hundreds of billions of dollars each into AI infrastructure, fuelling debate over whether a speculative market bubble could be forming similar to the one that preceded the 2000 dot-com crash.

Oil rates, which have been elevated since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran, rose concerning 1 percent as Asian markets opened on Wednesday against the backdrop of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, including hostilities between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis.

Futures for Brent crude, the global benchmark, stood at regarding $115 a barrel, up 59 percent from before the war began.

For now, global stock markets rise as investors continue to bet on AI remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.