The corporate governance movement in South Korea has reached an inflection point. After years of incremental pressure, scattered proxy fights, and periodic flare-ups of shareholder activism that fizzled before producing structural change, the reform movement now has institutional weight, legal tailwinds, and a level of public legitimacy that makes it difficult to dismiss. Korean corporate…
China’s evolving data governance regime has entered a new and more consequential phase. A revised set of cross-border data transfer regulations, finalized in March 2026 by the Cyberspace Administration of China, imposes stricter requirements on how companies move personal data and operationally sensitive information out of mainland China. The updated rules expand the categories of…
Asia’s artificial-intelligence hardware boom is lifting chipmakers, component suppliers and equipment firms across Taiwan, South Korea and Japan, as demand for compute infrastructure spreads beyond the largest U.S. cloud companies. The rally is no longer only about advanced processors; it now includes memory, packaging, substrates, cooling systems and power-management components. Taiwan remains central because of…
Asian equities opened April on a firmer footing as traders bet that the worst of recent geopolitical risk had been priced into markets. Regional benchmarks rose across Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and parts of Southeast Asia, supported by lower volatility, bargain hunting in technology shares and renewed inflows into export-sensitive names. The move followed…
FTSE Russell confirmed on April 7 that Vietnam will be added to its global equity indices as a secondary emerging market beginning September 21, 2026, with a phased inclusion extending into 2027. The VN Index surged 4.7% the following day, reaching its highest level since early March. The confirmation was expected, but the market’s response…
Japan’s Nikkei 225 traded above 58,000 early this week, maintaining levels near its all-time high as multiple regional catalysts converged. China’s National People’s Congress opened on March 5, with the formal adoption of the 15th Five-Year Plan expected to set the economic framework for 2026 to 2030. The growth target of 4.5% to 5%, a…
Samsung Electronics shares climbed 5.4% to a record 190,900 won on Thursday after South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported that the company is negotiating HBM4 chip prices at approximately $700 per unit, representing a 20% to 30% premium over the previous HBM3E generation. The pricing report landed after markets reopened from a three-day Lunar New…
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party won 316 of 465 seats in Sunday’s general election, securing a two-thirds supermajority in the lower house of parliament for the first time since the party’s founding in 1955. Combined with the 36 seats won by coalition partner Nippon Ishin no Kai, the ruling bloc controls 352 seats,…
TSMC’s record fourth-quarter results and $52-56 billion 2026 capex plan confirmed the company’s position as the single most important manufacturer in the AI hardware supply chain. But beneath the financial headlines, TSMC is managing a technology development challenge that is more complex than at any point in its history: simultaneously ramping a new transistor architecture…
The Japanese yen began 2026 trading near 157 to the U.S. dollar, a level that confounds the straightforward narrative that Bank of Japan rate hikes should strengthen the currency. The BOJ raised its policy rate to 0.75% in December, the highest in three decades, yet the yen has barely responded. The disconnect between a tightening…
