Last week, buyers ran from tech stocks. On Tuesday they ran right back, and Asian chip stocks led the way.
The timing is tricky, though, since a wave of huge AI firms is about to go public and chase cash from the same buyers.
Tech had a rough week before this, as a broad drop in AI names dragged chip stocks down with it. Tuesday was the snap back.
South Korea's memory giants did the heavy lifting. SK Hynix jumped 6.44%, and Samsung rose 3.38%.
A smaller name, Seoul Semiconductor, did even better, up more than 12%.
These chips matter for AI. Memory chips store the data that AI models work with, so the more an AI does, the more memory it needs.
When AI demand looks strong, these stocks tend to rise with it.
That link is why a strong AI mood can lift chip stocks across Asia, and a weak one can drag them down.
The gains were not just in Korea. In Japan, gear maker Tokyo Electron rose 5.65% as well.
Not every stock joined in, though, since SoftBank slipped another 2% while the rest of the group rose.
The bounce tracked a calmer day in the US, where the Nasdaq rose 0.86% on Monday as chip stocks there won back some of last week's losses.
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Andrew Jackson, a strategist at ORTUS Advisors, thinks the mood could flip fast, and he called the recent move into safer home stocks "short lived for now."
He also warned that the week could stay choppy, since buyers are bracing for the SpaceX deal first.
His bigger worry is what comes next. A run of giant AI deals could pull cash out of the stocks buyers already own, and cash could get harder to find once the biggest deals price.
Three of the biggest names in tech are going public at once. SpaceX should price on Thursday and start trading Friday, while OpenAI has filed to go public at more than $850 billion.
Anthropic has made a similar move toward the public market.
OpenAI could list as soon as the fourth quarter, which is a lot of new stock for the market to soak up in a short time.
Think of it like a few huge guests at a dinner with a set amount of food, where every other plate gets smaller. That is Jackson's worry, since the cash left for other stocks could get tight once OpenAI's deal moves through.
The big question is whether Tuesday's bounce can hold once these deals start to soak up cash, and SpaceX goes first.
A hot debut could lift the whole group, while a weak one could spook buyers.
Friday is when the rebound gets its first real test.
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