Asian chip stocks surge as Seoul backs Nvidia GPU deliveries amid spy probe

Asia's chipmakers shook off Friday's slump in a hurry. Taiwan led the charge, with the Taiwan Weighted Index climbing as much as 6.7% on Monday. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company jumped more than 6%, while Foxconn, formally Hon Hai Precision Industry, ripped higher by over 8%.

South Korea's suppliers rode the same wave. Samsung Electronics gained 2.7% and SK Hynix added 4.77% — both count Nvidia among their customers. Seoul isn't bracing for fallout either: Second Vice Minister for Science and ICT Ryu Je Myung said contracted Nvidia GPU deliveries should arrive without disruption, according to CNBC. Ryu said his ministry is tracking the situation closely and negotiating prices and schedules with Nvidia Korea.

Nvidia's own stock is a different story. Reuters reported Monday that Nvidia futures on the Hyperliquid exchange and after-hours trades on the Blue Ocean system were changing hands near $180.30 a share, roughly 3.4% below Friday's Nasdaq close of $186.64. Nvidia shares had finished Friday's regular session higher.

The pressure traces back to a weekend bombshell: Nvidia opened an investigation into CEO and co-founder Jensen Huang's relationship with a businesswoman U.S. intelligence agencies say is a Chinese spy. Huang told staff he had an affair with the woman and apologized. An Nvidia spokesperson said Huang is committed to staying on as CEO without interruption.

The woman, Alice Huang, is affiliated with a cloud company and Nvidia customer called Megaspeed, according to reports in The New York Times and the Financial Times. Those reports say U.S. intelligence officials are concerned she has been passing information to Beijing.

So Asian chip investors are betting the supply chain holds while the scandal plays out in the U.S. Seoul's read is that the GPUs keep coming.