EL7.AI
StocksMedium•21 October 2026•
4 min read

Asian Stocks Rise 1.1% as Optimism Over AI Demand Returns

Key Facts

1Supermicro estimated fiscal first-quarter revenue at between $18.5 billion and $19.5 billion, compared with previous guidance of between $14.5 billion and $15.5 billion.
2SpaceX revenue reached $14.6 billion, up 161% compared with $5.6 billion a year earlier.
3Supermicro shares jumped 16% in extended trading following its preliminary results update.
4The Asia Pacific Index rose 1.1%, snapping two sessions of losses.

Asian stocks rose during trading on Wednesday, 21 October 2026, as optimism over demand for artificial intelligence and spending on its infrastructure returned following announcements from SpaceX and Supermicro. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 1.1%, snapping two sessions of losses, according to Investing.com, in a turnaround following pressure on technology shares. The regional gains followed quarterly results from SpaceX and a preliminary, unaudited update from Supermicro covering revenue and gross margin estimates. The coverage linked the market rebound to renewed optimism over demand for AI platforms, the same driver Supermicro cited for raising its revenue estimate. The announcements restored momentum to Asian trading following the previous week's selloff in technology shares, amid investor questions over funding the expansion and valuations.

Supermicro said in its business update that it expects revenue of between $18.5 billion and $19.5 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2027, exceeding its previous guidance range. The company had set that guidance at revenue of between $14.5 billion and $15.5 billion for the same fiscal period before raising its estimate in the preliminary announcement. The new range sits entirely above analysts' average forecast of $15.23 billion, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters. The company attributed the higher revenue estimate primarily to "increased demand for AI platforms," identifying the business activity underpinning the revision to its quarterly outlook. That demand was central to Supermicro's update, which combined a sales estimate above analysts' expectations with an anticipated improvement in gross margin compared with its previous guidance.

Supermicro estimated its gross margin for the first quarter of fiscal 2027 at between 12.0% and 12.5%, according to the company's statement published through investor relations. The estimate exceeded its previous margin guidance range of between 10.4% and 10.8% for the same period, accompanying the increase in its revenue outlook. The company said the improvement in its gross margin estimate was primarily due to "customer and product mix," offering an explanation separate from the increased demand supporting sales. Supermicro thus linked the change in profitability to its business mix, while attributing the increase in its revenue estimate to demand for AI platforms. The company stressed that the announced figures were preliminary and unaudited and remained subject to revision as it completed its financial closing procedures, including the estimates in its quarterly business update.

SpaceX, meanwhile, reported revenue of $14.6 billion in the third quarter of 2026, according to its official filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. That represented annual growth of 161% compared with revenue of $5.6 billion in the third quarter of 2025, according to the comparison provided by the company. SpaceX posted quarterly net income of $4.4 billion alongside the increase in total revenue during the reporting period. Across its operations, revenue from the superintelligence segment reached about $7,560 million during the third quarter, among the results the company reported for its businesses. SpaceX named "cloud services agreements" among the drivers of increased revenue in its AI business, linking that business's growth to the service agreements cited in the filing.

SpaceX's results came alongside capital expenditure of about $19,593 million during the third quarter of 2026, according to the company's official filing. Its nominal computing capacity stood at 1.7 gigawatts at the end of September 2026, providing an operational backdrop to the announcement of AI business revenue and cloud services agreements. In markets, the rebound followed a selloff in technology shares during the previous week, which Investing.com linked to rising bond yields and questions over the cost of financing AI infrastructure. Those concerns prompted investors to reassess the share prices of companies tied to these investments, amid pressure on the sector before the latest announcements. The questions encompassed funding infrastructure spending and company valuations, the two factors that featured in the backdrop to technology's decline before optimism over demand returned.

In individual market moves, South Korea's Kospi rose 3.7% during Asian trading, according to the trading snapshot reported by Investing.com on Wednesday. Gains in space stocks extended to Japan, where Astroscale Holdings rose 6.6% in trading following SpaceX's quarterly results announcement. In the United States, Supermicro shares jumped 16% in extended trading following its preliminary update issued on 20 October 2026, according to the same source. The jump came after the close as investors reacted to the company's revenue and margin estimates, ahead of its full announcement on its performance in the first quarter of fiscal 2027. Supermicro is scheduled to announce the quarter's results and discuss them on an investor conference call on Tuesday, 3 November 2026, according to the date set by the company in its statement.