Quant chart: Asian hardware stocks show big gains and big swings

Asian AI hardware stocks have delivered exceptional but highly uneven gains, making bottom-up selection more important than simply owning the AI theme.

• As of 24 September 2026, the median one-year return across 51 Asian AI hardware stocks was 173%, while the median decline from a recent high was 23%.
• Twenty stocks gained at least 200% over the year, but seven were at least 40% below their recent peaks, showing that strong long-term returns have come with substantial volatility.
• MediaTek, ASE Technology and Global Unichip were within 5% of their recent highs, supported by order growth and earnings momentum.
• LG Innotek, LG Electronics, Yageo and Walsin were more than 50% below their peaks despite each posting a positive one-year return.
• Robeco divides the value chain into ten stages, from chip design, foundries and memory to packaging, networking, power, cooling, components, boards and servers; each stage faces different demand cycles, competition and valuations.

Takeaway: Investors should assess how much future growth is already priced into each AI beneficiary and focus on earnings revisions and stock selection rather than applying a uniform AI exposure; Robeco says its 2026 technology performance benefited from stock selection without an overall AI overweight, while the analysis is not a buy, sell or hold recommendation.