Goldman Sachs raises Asia ex-Japan index target amid tech strength

Goldman Sachs just handed Asian tech bulls a fresh reason to feel vindicated. The bank’s equity strategy team, led by Timothy Moe, lifted its 12-month target for the MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan Index to 1,080, up from 990, implying roughly 17.2% upside from early June levels. The catalyst is familiar but increasingly hard to ignore: AI-related hardware demand is turbocharging earnings across North Asia, and Goldman thinks the rally has more room to run. The numbers behind the upgrade Goldman’s revised target didn’t arrive in isolation. The bank simultaneously upgraded Taiwan’s equity rating to overweight and jacked up its KOSPI target for South Korea from 9,000 to 12,000. That South Korea call implies a staggering 36.3% upside. The earnings revisions underpinning these calls are genuinely eye-catching. Goldman raised its 2026 EPS growth forecast for the broader MSCI Emerging Markets Index from 45% to 55%, with the revision driven almost entirely by anticipated demand for AI hardware. North Asia’s projected earnings growth for 2026 sits far above the regional average. As of early June, the MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan Index was up 27% year-to-date. Strip out South Korea and Taiwan, tho...