AI rush drives Asian share sales: heading for the 2021 record

Companies in the Asia-Pacific region are approaching a challenge to the 2021 record for share and convertible bond sales, as Reuters reports on September 30, while the artificial intelligence rush drives an unprecedented wave of investment in chips, data centres and energy systems.

According to LSEG data, companies in the region raised $327.1 billion through equity deals this year, 53% more than a year earlier. The annual record stands at $557.6 billion, reached in 2021, when by the end of September the total had reached $399.7 billion.

James Wang, head of equity capital markets for Asia excluding Japan at Goldman Sachs, predicts equity issuance in the region will exceed 2021 by year-end, which he calls the historic high year. To beat the record, the region needs $230.6 billion in the final quarter — a target bankers see as achievable thanks to the rush of AI-related listings.

Among the expected deals are Australian AI infrastructure firm Firmus, Singaporean data-centre operator DayOne and Chinese chipmaker Yangtze Memory, each targeting about $5 billion. High-technology firms, accounting for 38% of the total, have raised $125.8 billion this year, more than double last year. Among third-quarter deals were SK Hynix’s Nasdaq share sale, which raised $26.5 billion, and Zhongji Innolight’s in Hong Kong, at $7.8 billion.

Aaron Oh, head of equity capital markets for Asia at UBS, said the market has enough liquidity and is ready to finance companies showing real profits from AI, and that the rush of capital spending in the artificial intelligence supply chain is creating a new financing cycle that could sustain momentum beyond this year.