Zero One Investment Research Daily Intelligence Brief, November 2, 2026

Korea's chip exports jump 259% as MediaTek weighs financing its customers

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Korea's chip exports rose 259% in October

South Korea's semiconductor exports rose 259% YoY to US$56.4bn in October, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources said on 1 Nov. Chips made up 48.9% of all exports, the highest share recorded for any October, and total exports rose 93.7% to a record US$115.3bn.

The ministry put the growth down to excess demand for DRAM and continued increases in contract prices for both DRAM and NAND flash. Everything outside chips grew 34%. Computer exports, mostly enterprise SSDs (solid-state drives) for AI servers, posted triple-digit growth for a ninth straight month.

The buyers are AI data center builders. Chip exports to the United States rose 497%, the tenth straight month of triple-digit growth, and total shipments to the US rose 185.8% to US$24.9bn. Exports to China rose 133.6% to US$26.98bn.

Our 29 Oct Blade reported that SK hynix (000660 KS) has sold out its DRAM and HBM capacity through 2029. October's figures show that pricing is now reaching the national trade accounts. The ministry expects full-year exports to pass US$1tn as early as November, and the November chip line will show whether contract prices are still rising.

Linked stocks: 000660 KS, 005930 KS, MU US, 2408 TT

MediaTek weighs financing AI chip customers

MediaTek (2454 TT) said on its third-quarter call that it would consider arranging financing for a customer if there is a need and the customer is suitable, Commercial Times reported. Analysts cited by the paper think the option is aimed at winning further custom AI chip (ASIC) work from OpenAI.

Rivals already offer financing and buy-now-pay-later style terms to win frontier AI model companies. Our 27 Oct Blade reported that Broadcom (AVGO US) arranged US$63bn with four lenders to finance the Broadcom chips Anthropic uses. Amazon (AMZN US) has lined up a secured facility of up to US$80bn tied to its purchases of data center equipment, drawable from 1Q27 to 3Q28 in five-year loans, its 3Q filing shows. The amount drawn depends on its purchase orders, timing and prices.

MediaTek has raised money too. It completed a US$3.9bn overseas convertible bond in the third quarter, with NVIDIA (NVDA US) and Alphabet among the buyers, to help secure component capacity. It said the revenue of some frontier model companies has improved relative to their capex over the past six quarters, which it said supports the view that their spending can generate enough cash.

On the same call, CEO Rick Tsai and CFO David Ku said the largest customer's second-generation ASIC remains on schedule for volume production in 1Q28, DigiTimes reported, and that a second project and a second customer both start in 2028. MediaTek pays out 80-85% of each year's earnings as cash dividends; a lower payout ratio would show customer financing taking cash.

Linked stocks: 2454 TT, AVGO US, AMZN US, NVDA US

UMC wins optics orders, some reportedly priced 7x

UMC (2303 TT) has won silicon photonics orders from Innolight (300308 CH), the largest maker of data center optical transceivers, and from a Tencent-backed photonic chip designer, Economic Daily News reported. The first orders total about 10,000 wafers at its Singapore fab, and industry estimates put the price of some of these wafers at about seven times a standard CMOS wafer. UMC did not comment on customers or prices.

The chips are photonic integrated circuits (PICs), which convert electrical signals to light inside optical modules. Few foundries can make them in volume, and the paper reported that the capacity of Tower Semiconductor (TSEM US) and GlobalFoundries (GFS US) is fully booked. UMC plans a long-term PIC capacity of 18,000 wafers a month across its Singapore P4 site and new Tainan P7 and P8 fabs, with tools moving in from end-2028 and full scale in 2030.

The same paper reported that UMC turned away a Samsung Electronics (005930 KS) rush order. Samsung had cancelled more than 10,000 wafers of OLED display driver chips expecting weak phone sales, then asked for them back when its foldables sold well, but other customers had already taken the capacity.

Our 29 Oct Blade reported that UMC expects its average selling price to rise about 10% in 2027 with utilization at 92%. Optics orders at several times the standard wafer price would add to that increase as the Singapore lines fill.

Linked stocks: 2303 TT, TSEM US, GFS US, 300308 CH

S&P turns negative on Meta's AI spending

S&P Global Ratings moved its outlook on Meta Platforms (META US) to negative from stable, citing surging AI capex and major uncertainty over free cash flow, Liberty Times reported. S&P said Meta converts AI investment into revenue less readily than its peers, its free cash flow could stay negative beyond 2028, and it expects Meta to rely entirely on debt to fill its 2028 cash gap.

A negative outlook signals that a downgrade is possible; the rating itself is unchanged. Our 23 Oct Blade reported that Meta's free cash flow turned negative US$2.12bn in 3Q26 while it kept capex guidance at US$135-145bn. Our 27 Oct Blade reported its plan to raise up to US$95bn of new equity, with NVIDIA (NVDA US), AMD (AMD US) and Broadcom (AVGO US) buying up to US$5bn.

Outside technology, companies are reporting returns from AI. Santander said its AI programs created EUR194m of business value in the first nine months, and Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan said 3Q26 was the first quarter in which AI clearly improved its results. A rating cut would raise Meta's cost of the debt S&P expects it to take on.

Linked stocks: META US, NVDA US, AMD US, AVGO US

Asus and Gigabyte borrow to build AI servers

Asus (2357 TT) has raised its full-year server revenue growth target to 150% from 100%, and together with Gigabyte (2376 TT) it has raised more than NT$100bn to pay for plants, parts and overseas working capital, cnYES reported.

Asus issued a US$1.5bn unsecured convertible bond and a US$1bn bond exchangeable into its shares of Advantech (2395 TT). Its Singapore subsidiary then closed a US$2bn syndicated loan, doubled from US$1bn after lenders oversubscribed, the group's largest overseas financing. In the first half, HGX servers and GB300 NVL72 racks made up 90% of its server revenue.

Gigabyte signed a five-year NT$50bn syndicated loan with Bank of Taiwan, Mega, Hua Nan and Cathay United, mainly to repay loans and buy components for next year's platform. It raised 2026 capex to NT$2.8-3.0bn from NT$2.3-2.5bn and has started delivering small volumes of NVIDIA Vera Rubin products, with volume expected in 1H27 once customers finish validation.

The borrowing pays for parts before the servers ship. Gigabyte's Vera Rubin ramp in 1H27 will show how quickly that inventory turns into revenue.

Linked stocks: 2357 TT, 2376 TT, NVDA US

OpenAI's second chip reportedly moves to TSMC's A16

OpenAI's first in-house AI chip is made on the 3nm process of TSMC (2330 TT), and the second is planned for TSMC's A16, a process that delivers power from the back of the chip, supply chain sources told Commercial Times. Sam Altman visited Taiwan last week and reportedly met TSMC chairman C.C. Wei and server makers Quanta and Wistron.

Foxconn (2317 TT) chairman Young Liu said at its 30 Oct Tech Day that he met Altman that day, and that their work has helped OpenAI forecast its hardware and computing needs more precisely; projects will be announced once confirmed. OpenAI is co-developing 10GW of custom accelerators with Broadcom (AVGO US), deploying from 2H26 to end-2029. Its first inference chip, Jalapeno, took nine months from design to tape-out and is in sample testing.

In Korea, Altman met about 50 senior Samsung Electronics (005930 KS) executives in Yongin, Tom's Hardware reported, but Samsung announced no new memory supply agreement. Our 29 Oct Blade reported that OpenAI plans to buy Google's TPUs, so it is now buying chips from Google, co-designing with Broadcom and planning on TSMC's leading processes. Whether Jalapeno deploys by year-end as planned will show if the in-house line is on time.

Linked stocks: 2330 TT, AVGO US, 2317 TT, 005930 KS

先聲 First Word: Exclusives from Chinese-Language Sources

NVIDIA's Rubin moves to 45°C warm-water cooling

NVIDIA's Rubin platform is moving to 45°C warm-water cooling, which outside air and dry coolers can cool with less need for chillers, and to microchannel lids that carry coolant closer to the chip. Jentech (3653 TT) is testing microchannel lids with several customers, and AVC (3017 TT) posted record 3Q26 revenue of NT$59.09bn. (2 Nov 2026) Source: 液冷技術升級 台廠搶布局

Echem's nine-month profit already beats all of 2025

Echem Solutions (4749 TT), which makes surface-treatment chemicals used with photoresist in chip lithography, earned NT$1.175bn in the first nine months, above its full-year 2025 profit of NT$1.044bn. It expects demand to rise as its main customer ramps 2nm, and plans a new Longtan plant in early 2028 to make DUV photoresist. (2 Nov 2026) Source: 新應材Q3每股賺5.62元

AUO plans a glass substrate line after selling fabs to TSMC

AUO (2409 TT) plans a pilot line for glass core substrates, a glass base for chip packages chosen for flatness and low signal loss, using Corning glass on 510 x 515mm panels. Contractors expect work on the two fabs TSMC bought from AUO for NT$38.8bn to start as early as 2Q27. (2 Nov 2026) Source: 台積電推進CoPoS 面板廠沾光