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Home/Alternative data
Alternative data · 18 charts

The numbers that move before earnings do

Korea's chip exports, TSMC's monthly sales, AI servers arriving from Taiwan and Mexico, and the money going into US data centers and the grid are all published weeks before companies report. Each chart shows the full history, what it measures, how to read it, and the stocks it moves.

Korea: memory & chipsTaiwan: foundry & AI serversWhere AI hardware is assembledData center construction & powerChip outputCommodities GPU pricesShipping routesRelease calendar
🇰🇷 Korea: memory & chips

Korea makes most of the world's memory, and its customs data is the fastest public read on AI demand.

Charts of Korean memory exports by destination (to Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Vietnam and the US) switch on automatically once the free Korea Customs data key is connected.

Korea semiconductor exports

Monthly
Latest · Sep 2026 $60.3B +262.8% vs a year ago

Total value of chips shipped out of Korea each month. About two-thirds is memory (HBM, DRAM, NAND), so it tracks AI memory demand and pricing.

How to read it. Each new record means memory makers are selling everything they can make at rising prices. A flat or falling month is the first warning sign.
SK hynix−0.2%Samsung Electronics−1.2%MU+3.3%SNDK+1.9%
Ministry of Trade, Industry & Resources (MOTIR) ↗ · since 2025-01

Jan–Sep 2025 are implied from MOTIR's reported year-on-year growth; Oct 2025 is the full-year total minus the other months.

🇹🇼 Taiwan: foundry & AI servers

Taiwan makes the AI chips (TSMC) and assembles most AI servers (Foxconn, Quanta, Wistron).

TSMC monthly revenue

Monthly
Latest · Sep 2026 NT$512B +54.7% vs a year ago

TSMC makes almost every advanced AI chip, for NVIDIA, Broadcom, AMD and Apple. Its sales are published about ten days after each month ends.

How to read it. The earliest hard number for AI chip demand each month, weeks before NVIDIA reports.
TSM+1.8%NVDA+2.2%AVGO+2.6%AMD+2.5%
TSMC Investor Relations ↗ · since 2025-01

Taiwan export orders

Monthly
Latest · Sep 2026 $114.2B

New orders received by Taiwanese companies for goods to be shipped abroad (including from their factories in other countries).

How to read it. Orders lead shipments by one to three months, so this is a forward look at AI server and chip output.
TSM+1.8%Hon Hai (Foxconn)0.0%Quanta Computer0.0%Delta Electronics0.0%
Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) ↗ · since 2026-01

US imports from Taiwan

Monthly
Latest · Aug 2026 $24.7B +39.0% vs a year ago

Value of goods the US imports from Taiwan each month. Since 2023 the increase is mostly AI servers and GPUs.

How to read it. The most direct public gauge of AI servers arriving in US data centers.
Hon Hai (Foxconn)0.0%Quanta Computer0.0%Wistron0.0%NVDA+2.2%SMCI0.0%DELL+3.4%
US Census Bureau via FRED ↗ · since 2016-01
🚢 Where AI hardware is assembled

US imports by country show where servers, chips and electronics are actually built and shipped from.

US imports from Mexico

Monthly
Latest · Aug 2026 $60.6B +34.2% vs a year ago

Mexico is where Foxconn and others assemble many AI servers for the US market, alongside autos and electronics.

How to read it. Read alongside Taiwan: server assembly has been moving to Mexico to sit closer to US data centers.
Hon Hai (Foxconn)0.0%DELL+3.4%SMCI0.0%CLS+3.8%
US Census Bureau via FRED ↗ · since 2016-01

US imports from Vietnam

Monthly
Latest · Aug 2026 $26.5B +61.0% vs a year ago

Vietnam assembles phones, PCs and increasingly networking gear and servers.

How to read it. Shows supply chains shifting out of China; electronics are the biggest category.
Samsung Electronics−1.2%AAPL−0.9%
US Census Bureau via FRED ↗ · since 2016-01

US imports from Malaysia

Monthly
Latest · Aug 2026 $8.6B +94.8% vs a year ago

Malaysia handles a large share of global chip packaging and testing (Intel, Micron, ASE, Infineon).

How to read it. Rising imports point to more finished chips and modules coming out of back-end plants.
INTC+4.6%MU+3.3%ASX+2.9%Infineon Technologies+3.9%
US Census Bureau via FRED ↗ · since 2016-01

US imports from Korea

Monthly
Latest · Aug 2026 $15.2B +49.0% vs a year ago

Goods the US buys from Korea: memory, batteries, transformers, cars and ships.

How to read it. Korean transformers (HD Hyundai, Hyosung, LS) are a growing slice as US grid demand outruns local supply.
SK hynix−0.2%HD Hyundai Electric−4.9%Hyosung Heavy Industries−1.3%LS Electric−2.5%
US Census Bureau via FRED ↗ · since 2016-01
⚡ Data center construction & power

Spending on data-center buildings, the power grid and electrical equipment, and what it costs.

US data center construction spending

Monthly
Latest · Aug 2026 $85.0B/yr +73.2% vs a year ago

Monthly spending on building private data centers in the US, at a seasonally adjusted annual rate. It covers the buildings and their electrical and cooling systems, but not the servers.

How to read it. The single best public measure of the physical build-out. Rising spending means more orders for power gear, cooling and construction firms.
VRT+3.2%ETN+2.4%PWR+4.1%EME+2.8%FIX+8.1%STRL+3.6%
US Census Bureau, Construction Spending ↗ · since 2014-01

US power construction spending

Monthly
Latest · Aug 2026 $186B/yr +8.5% vs a year ago

Spending on power plants, transmission lines and substations (seasonally adjusted annual rate).

How to read it. Data centers need the grid built first. Steady growth here is the grid trying to catch up.
GEV+5.0%PWR+4.1%MYRG+3.5%MTZ+3.1%ETN+2.4%
US Census Bureau via FRED ↗ · since 2014-01

Price of power transformers (US producer prices)

Monthly
Latest · Sep 2026 475 index +7.8% vs a year ago

Producer price index for power, distribution and specialty transformers. Transformers have lead times of two to four years.

How to read it. Prices still climbing means the shortage hasn't eased. It is good for transformer makers and a cost headwind for data-center developers.
ETN+2.4%HUBB+2.8%HD Hyundai Electric−4.9%Hyosung Heavy Industries−1.3%LS Electric−2.5%Hitachi−0.5%
US Bureau of Labor Statistics via FRED ↗ · since 2015-01

Price of electrical equipment (switchgear, motors, transformers)

Monthly
Latest · Sep 2026 256 index +8.8% vs a year ago

Producer price index for electrical equipment manufacturing.

How to read it. A broader read on grid-equipment pricing power.
ETN+2.4%Schneider Electric+1.6%ABB+2.7%POWL+4.2%VRT+3.2%
US Bureau of Labor Statistics via FRED ↗ · since 2015-01

US electric power generation (industrial production)

Monthly
Latest · Sep 2026 117.5 index +9.6% vs a year ago

Output of US power plants (Federal Reserve industrial production index, 2017 = 100).

How to read it. After 15 flat years, US electricity demand is rising again, largely because of data centers.
CEG+0.5%VST+2.1%TLN+4.3%NEE+0.3%GEV+5.0%
Federal Reserve via FRED ↗ · since 2015-01

US electricity price (average retail, per kWh)

Monthly
Latest · Sep 2026 19.6 ¢/kWh +4.3% vs a year ago

Average US retail electricity price paid by households, in cents per kWh.

How to read it. Rising power bills are becoming a political issue for data centers; watch for pushback on new grid connections.
CEG+0.5%VST+2.1%NEE+0.3%AEP0.0%
US Bureau of Labor Statistics via FRED ↗ · since 2015-01
🔬 Chip output

How much the US chip industry is producing.

US semiconductor production

Monthly
Latest · Sep 2026 199 index +19.9% vs a year ago

Output of US semiconductor and electronic component makers (Federal Reserve industrial production index, 2017 = 100).

How to read it. Measures real output, not prices. New US fabs (TSMC Arizona, Intel, Micron, Samsung Texas) should push this up.
INTC+4.6%TSM+1.8%MU+3.3%
Federal Reserve via FRED ↗ · since 2015-01
⛏️ Commodities

The raw materials and fuel behind the build-out.

Copper price

Monthly
Latest · Sep 2026 $14,473/t +44.8% vs a year ago

Global copper price (US$ per metric ton). Data centers, grids and transformers use large amounts of copper.

How to read it. High copper prices help miners and raise costs for grid-equipment makers.
FCX−0.2%SCCO+1.2%TECK+2.2%Ivanhoe Mines+0.6%
IMF via FRED ↗ · since 2015-01

Uranium price

Monthly
Latest · Sep 2026 $72/lb +15.3% vs a year ago

Uranium price (US$ per pound). Restarted and new nuclear plants are being contracted by hyperscalers.

How to read it. Higher prices encourage new mines; long-term contract prices matter more than spot.
CCJ+0.9%LEU−1.3%NXE+1.7%UEC+1.8%
IMF via FRED ↗ · since 2015-01

US natural gas price (Henry Hub)

Monthly
Latest · Oct 2026 $3.12/MMBtu −1.9% vs a year ago

US benchmark natural gas price. Most new power for data centers in the near term comes from gas turbines.

How to read it. Cheap gas keeps power affordable for data centers. Spikes raise power prices and help gas producers.
EQT−3.3%WMB+0.3%KMI−1.4%GEV+5.0%
EIA via FRED ↗ · since 2015-01
Compute prices

What an AI GPU costs to rent

All GPUs, live →
B300$8.70/hr4 providers · 30D +20.1%B200$8.44/hr5 providers · 30D +23.8%H200$5.95/hr3 providers · 30D +9.2%H100 SXM$3.99/hr9 providers · 30D +1.5%

On-demand price since 2023 ($/GPU-hour)

Price of Compute
Follow the shipment

Where AI hardware physically travels

Customs data records the next stop, not the final buyer. Korean HBM shows up as an export to Taiwan because that's where TSMC packages it next to the GPU.

KoreaSK hynix Icheon & Cheongju (M15X) · Samsung Pyeongtaek
HBM3E / HBM4 stacks
TaiwanTSMC CoWoS packaging (Zhunan AP6, Taichung AP5, Chiayi AP7)
Moves: SK hynix −0.2%Samsung Electronics −1.2%TSM +1.8% → ends in NVIDIA, AMD and Broadcom accelerators: NVDAAMDAVGO
TaiwanTSMC fabs + CoWoS (Hsinchu, Tainan, Taichung)
Packaged AI chips
Taiwan / Mexico / USFoxconn, Quanta, Wistron rack lines (Taiwan, Guadalajara, Houston)
Moves: TSM +1.8%Hon Hai (Foxconn) 0.0%Quanta Computer 0.0%Wistron 0.0% → ends in GB300 / Vera Rubin racks: NVDAVRTDelta Electronics
TaiwanODM final assembly
AI server racks
United StatesHyperscaler & neocloud data centers (Texas, Virginia, Georgia, Ohio)
Moves: Hon Hai (Foxconn) 0.0%Quanta Computer 0.0%Wistron 0.0% → ends in Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta, Oracle, CoreWeave: MSFTGOOGLAMZNMETAORCLCRWV
KoreaSamsung / SK hynix memory lines
Conventional DRAM & NAND wafers
ChinaSamsung Xi'an (NAND) · SK hynix Wuxi (DRAM) & Dalian (NAND)
Moves: Samsung Electronics −1.2%SK hynix −0.2% → ends in Chinese servers, phones and PCs: Xiaomi
KoreaSamsung & SK hynix SSD lines
Enterprise SSDs
United StatesAI inference & storage clusters
Moves: Samsung Electronics −1.2%SK hynix −0.2% → ends in Storage read-across: SNDKWDCSTX
JapanAjinomoto (ABF film) · Tokyo Electron & Advantest (tools, testers)
Substrate film, process tools, testers
Taiwan & KoreaIbiden / Unimicron substrates · TSMC, SK hynix, Samsung fabs
Moves: Ajinomoto −1.0%Tokyo Electron −3.7%Advantest −3.9%Ibiden −3.1%Unimicron 0.0% → ends in Every AI chip package: TSMSK hynix
NetherlandsASML Veldhoven
EUV & DUV lithography
Taiwan, Korea, US, ChinaTSMC, Samsung, SK hynix, Intel, Micron fabs
Moves: ASML +2.0% → ends in Leading-edge logic and HBM capacity: TSMMUINTC

Release calendar · next 31 days

Approximate dates
10-26  EIA Electric Power MonthlyEIA
10-28  China rare-earth export dataChina Customs
11-02  Korea monthly exports (incl. semiconductors)MOTIR
11-04  SIA global semiconductor salesSIA / WSTS
11-05  Hon Hai (Foxconn) monthly salesHon Hai
11-09  Taiwan monthly exportsMinistry of Finance
11-10  TSMC monthly revenueTSMC
11-10  Quanta / Wistron / ASE monthly salesTWSE
11-11  Korea 10-day exportsKCS
11-16  Japan machine-tool orders (prelim.)JMTBA
11-20  Taiwan export ordersMOEA
11-23  Korea 20-day exportsKCS
11-24  EIA Electric Power MonthlyEIA

Sources are linked on each chart: Korea MOTIR, TSMC, Taiwan MOEA (transcribed from official releases), US Census Bureau, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal Reserve, IMF and EIA (via FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis), and Price of Compute. Automated series refresh each weekday; last refresh 2026-10-24 01:08 UTC. Not investment advice.