BNP Paribas expects emerging markets to stay supported in 2026 due to strong global spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure and linked supply chains. It forecasts average emerging market growth of 4.1%, down from 4.3%. <\/p>\n
The bank links current support mainly to demand created by building data centres and other physical AI infrastructure. It says the impact is expected to pass mostly through trade, rather than near-term productivity gains. <\/p>\n
It notes emerging economies are less well placed than advanced economies to gain from AI adoption and diffusion. It reports an average AIPI index of 0.72 for G7 countries. <\/p>\n
The report says some emerging markets are better placed within AI supply chains, including producers of critical metals, electricity, and advanced semiconductors. It adds that this positioning may strengthen in the short term if investment in AI infrastructure continues.<\/p>\n
We see the ongoing build-out of artificial intelligence infrastructure as the primary support for emerging markets right now. This growth is not from internal productivity gains but from strong global demand for the physical components of AI. This means countries exporting electronics, energy, and key raw materials are in a favorable position.<\/p>\n
For traders, this suggests looking at long positions in the currencies of key supply chain countries, such as the Chilean Peso for copper or the Taiwanese Dollar for semiconductors. Another approach would be to use call options on emerging market indices with heavy exposure to technology and materials sectors. These trades would capitalize on the continued flow of investment into AI hardware.<\/p>\n
Recent data reinforces this view, as South Korea’s chip exports for January 2026 showed a 35% year-over-year increase, continuing a trend we saw through much of 2025. This demand is directly tied to the construction and upgrading of data centers globally. It indicates the investment cycle that began two years ago has not yet peaked.<\/p>\n
The demand is also clearly visible in commodity markets, with copper prices recently pushing past $10,500 per tonne. This price action reflects the intense need for the metal in data center wiring and power grids. Derivative plays on copper futures could offer a direct way to gain exposure to this physical infrastructure boom.<\/p>\n
We are also seeing this trend play out in energy markets, particularly in Southeast Asian hubs like Malaysia. Reports show energy consumption in key industrial zones, where several new data centers came online in 2025, is up 12% from early last year. This highlights opportunities in the energy sector of nations attracting AI investment.<\/p>\n
However, we should note that the pace of this growth may begin to moderate. This suggests that while maintaining a bullish outlook, traders could use strategies like bull call spreads on relevant indices or stocks. This would allow for profiting from further upside while defining the risk should the investment boom cool faster than expected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BNP Paribas sees emerging markets supported in 2026 by AI infrastructure spending, supply chains, despite slower growth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-updates"],"acf":{"acf_article_selection_author":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42696\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}