00:02you're listening to AI prism from Seoul economic daily Korea is projected to remain the world's
00:08dominant memory supplier through 2031 five of America's biggest tech companies are carrying
00:161.09 trillion dollars in lease commitments that never show up as debt spacex grew revenue 92%
00:25last quarter and its shares still fell more than 7% after hours on capital spending fears
00:32the US Treasury Secretary just linked the Korean won's weakness directly to Japan's currency
00:39interventions it's Thursday August 6th here's why global investors are paying attention to Korea
00:46today global memory demand is being reshaped by US China tech competition with Washington's export
00:54controls pushing American consumption share higher and Chinese share lower at the same time
01:00US Big Tech's AI infrastructure build-out is generating financial exposure that isn't fully
01:07visible in reported balance sheets currency policy has entered the mix too as the US Treasury moves
01:14to manage yen weakness before it spreads across Asian currencies including the one here's what
01:20the numbers show the US share of global memory chip consumption rose 15 percentage points climbing
01:28from 37 percent in 2021 to 52 percent last year while China's share fell from 35 percent to 29 percent
01:38over the same stretch according to Yoll Group Nvidia's HBM market share is projected to fall to 58 percent
01:47this year down from 66 percent last year as hyperscalers shift toward custom ASIC chips
01:55SpaceX's capital expenditure hit 18.4 billion dollars last quarter a six-fold jump from a year earlier with
02:0415.8 billion dollars of that going directly into AI infrastructure and shares fell more than 7 percent in
02:11after-hours trading on the spending concern SpaceX still posted 7.8 billion dollars in quarterly revenue
02:19up 92 percent year-on-year and above the 6.93 billion dollar consensus estimate Big Tech's undisclosed lease
02:29obligations total 1.09 trillion dollars nearly four times the 285 billion dollars already recognized as lease
02:39lease liabilities on their books per Reuters
02:42Oracle alone carries 260 billion dollars in undisclosed leases about seven times its recognized lease liabilities of 37.89 billion
02:54dollars
02:55The US flagged Korea Japan and China as currency watch list countries last month and Treasury Secretary Besant has since
03:04tied the
03:05one's weakness directly to yen depreciation
03:08So what does this mean for global investors?
03:11Earlier we said Korea is projected to stay the dominant memory supplier through 2031
03:17Here's what that actually means for you
03:20With US demand accelerating and Chinese share shrinking
03:24Korean memory makers sit closer to the center of the AI supply chain, not the periphery
03:30The bigger risk sits in US tech balance sheets
03:34A trillion dollars in off-balance sheet lease exposure means AI capex risk is larger than headline debt figures suggest
03:42and Korean suppliers tied to that capex cycle carry the same exposure indirectly
03:48Currency policy adds a layer worth tracking
03:51One weakness tied to yen moves affects both FX hedging costs and one-denominated equity returns for foreign holders
04:01That's today's AI Prism
04:03Global investors
04:05This episode was produced with AI assistance based on Seoul Economic Daily reporting
04:11and reviewed by a human editor
04:13AI Prism is a one IFRA award-winning series
04:17We'll be back tomorrow
04:19You've been listening to AI Prism
04:20from Seoul Economic Daily
04:22lum citoyens
04:25id
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