NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang's recent tour of Asia has quietly transformed into a mobile stock promotion tour.
In Seoul, Huang publicly told investors they "should be very happy," calling a market pullback an opportunity to "buy at a discount," promptly sparking a rebound in chip stocks; he also called on SK Hynix to "please produce more" memory chips, adding fuel to a stock already up over 200% year-to-date.
Later, he publicly recommended Qualcomm stock in another appearance, quipping "I sell stocks for other people all day"—Qualcomm shares subsequently rose 2% in after-hours trading. Every word from Huang is precisely moving market sentiment.
However, according to a Bloomberg column, these series of remarks have drawn clear warnings from market participants: in an environment of exuberant retail sentiment, rising leverage, and an information vacuum, Huang's optimistic statements and stock endorsements are creating potential risks rather than providing effective guidance.
Seoul Stop: Pullback is a "Discount," Everyone Should be "Very Happy"
Last Friday, U.S. stocks suffered a sharp decline, with the Nasdaq Composite Index falling 4% in a single day, erasing over $1 trillion in tech market value. Just as market sentiment was low, Huang delivered a shot of adrenaline in Seoul.
Huang said in Seoul on Monday, "We're just getting started, whatever happened to the stock market, you should be very happy because now you can buy at a discount."
He further stated that the future of artificial intelligence is exciting, and "everybody should be very excited about that."
The impact was immediate. On Monday, the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) rose 4% in pre-market trading and closed up nearly 6%. Semiconductor stocks including NVIDIA, AMD, and Broadcom all rebounded, with the chip sector quickly bouncing back from the previous session's heavy losses.
Simultaneously, NVIDIA and SK Hynix announced a multi-year AI memory chip design cooperation agreement during the Seoul visit, further strengthening market expectations for the continued expansion of AI infrastructure.
Notably, in Seoul, he also called on SK Hynix to "please produce more" memory chips, adding further heat to a stock already up 200% year-to-date.
On Monday, he also turned his attention to Qualcomm. "I don't think we're doing a great job in mobile, and we don't need to," Huang said, "I think they [Qualcomm] do a great job. Buy their stock."
Immediately after, he added a self-deprecating summary: "That's good. I sell stocks for other people all day. Yeah, it's good to help others. We should be happy for other people's success."
Qualcomm's stock price subsequently rose about 2% in after-hours trading.
Huang's "stock recommendation" trail during this Asia trip extended beyond Seoul.
At the largest AI tech exhibition in Asia, Huang praised Taiwan, China, for having the "world's best supply chain ecosystem." This remark directly pushed the Taiwan stock market to a record high.
Rising Skepticism: Market Concerns Behind the Optimism
Huang's market influence is undeniable, but this influence is raising increasing concern.
According to the Bloomberg column, Huang's remarks "have been seen as careless and out of touch with market dynamics." The column points out that the current market already shows signs of frenzied retail buying, rising leverage levels, and investors imagining all sorts of manufacturers from cars to PCs as AI concept stocks, making market bubble risks impossible to ignore.
The forward price-to-earnings ratio of Taiwan's benchmark stock index is now close to that of the S&P 500, but its market's industrial diversification and earnings visibility are far lower—semiconductor and hardware tech companies account for a hefty 78% weighting in the Taiwan index, and such companies themselves are highly cyclical.
In South Korea, Samsung and SK Hynix together contribute over half the weighting of the Kospi index. Whether these companies can escape the boom-bust cycles historically common to the industry remains uncertain.
More critically, the market is currently in an information vacuum.
According to the Bloomberg column, the Q1 earnings season concluded in late May, and the next earnings season won't start until late July. During this period, investors cannot rely on financial data to judge whether the AI chip rally matches actual orders and corporate profits, forcing them to parse Huang's every word even more carefully.
"That oversized influence also must come with commensurate responsibility," the Bloomberg column wrote.
The column argues that Huang may be correct in the broad direction—AI will change the world, and this chip upcycle is larger than previous ones—but "the tech executive might want to avoid giving stock advice until he's actually studied valuations and made sure retail investors aren't getting carried away."
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