Asia's AI boom is spilling out of the stock market and into luxury spending

South Korea's AI-fueled stock rally has helped drive rising household wealth and strong spending at high-end department stores such as Shinsegae.

Anthony Wallace/AFP/Getty Images AI-linked stock gains are spilling into luxury spending across parts of Asia.

South Korea's market slump has cooled the boom, but spending is holding up.

Now, massive chipmaker bonuses could send billions more flowing into the economy.

Luxury spending is holding up in parts of Asia even as the AI-fueled stock-market rallies that helped create new wealth have stumbled.

In South Korea and Japan, affluent consumers are still spending on jewelry, watches, and other luxury goods after huge gains in AI-linked stocks swelled household wealth.

The trend is most apparent in South Korea, where Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and other technology companies powered a historic stock-market rally earlier this year.

Markets have since turned volatile, but consumer spending has proved more resilient.

"Buoyant revenues for technology firms have helped to drive large bonuses and dividend payouts, as well as wealth effects from rising stock prices, the combined impact of which has boosted consumption spending in the first half of 2026," Rajiv Biswas, CEO of Asia-Pacific Economics, told Business Insider.

Korean spending slowed in July before rebounding in September, a dip the bank attributed partly to market swings, Kathleen Oh, the chief Korea and Taiwan economist at Morgan Stanley, wrote in a September 17 report.

She added that consumer confidence in the spending recovery remained intact.

The bank raised its forecast for private consumption growth this year to 2.6% from 2.2%, citing stronger household incomes, fiscal support, rising wealth, and inbound tourism.

Department stores and luxury companies are going strong The resilience is showing up at department stores.

At Shinsegae, one of South Korea's biggest high-end department-store operators, same-store sales rose 15% from a year earlier in August, according to Bank of America, with luxury sales up 20%.