Even Nvidia Hits the PCB Wall as AI Roadmap Flashes Red

*Editor's Note: 'AI PRISM' (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an "artificial intelligence (AI)-based customized news recommendation and summarization service" developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six customized news items by reader type.

1. Nvidia's AI Server Rack Launch Falters…Asian Tech Stocks Plunge

- Key Summary: SemiAnalysis, a specialized semiconductor analysis firm, said that the launch of Nvidia's next-generation AI rack "Kyber NVL144" has been delayed by more than a year to 2028 due to multilayer PCB (printed circuit board) manufacturing problems. Kyber NVL144 is a product designed to combine 144 high-performance chips into one so that it operates like a giant computer, and mass production of the special PCB, a key component, and the optical communication connection work for the ultra-high-speed connection device (NVSwitch) have not been completed. SemiAnalysis said the plan to join two racks together to expand to the world's largest scale has also been canceled. Meanwhile, Bloomberg analyzed that this delay increases uncertainty about Nvidia's next-generation roadmap while at the same time opportunities could come to industries with PCB technology capabilities, such as Korea.

2. Push for Output Increases Even at Pre-Iran War Oil Prices…Next Year's 'Oversupply' Forecast Too

- Key Summary: OPEC+ (the consultative body of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC oil-producing countries) has agreed to increase its daily production quota by an additional 188,000 barrels starting in August, continuing a fifth consecutive month of output increases. With Brent crude falling to $71.61 per barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) to $68.30, China's June seaborne crude oil imports, the world's largest crude oil importer, hit a 10-year low of 5.84 million barrels per day. On top of this, uncontrollable supply expansion factors overlap, including the possibility of independent output increases by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which withdrew from OPEC+, Iraq's demand for a higher quota, and Russia's record-high crude oil shipments from western ports. Experts diagnosed that the key to future oil prices depends on the pace of recovery in Strait of Hormuz traffic and the timing of China's import expansion.

3. No Physical Division Listing Without Shareholder Consent

- Key Summary: The Financial Services Commission and the Korea Exchange announced the "Dual Listing Principle Prohibition and Exception Permission Guidelines," which make mandatory shareholder consent, board approval procedures, and special exchange review for listed parent companies pursuing subsidiary initial public offerings (IPOs). In particular, when listing a subsidiary created through physical division, majority approval at a shareholder meeting limiting the voting rights of the largest shareholder and specially related persons to 3%, along with consent from at least one-quarter of total voting rights, are essential requirements. The parent company's board bears five obligations, including shareholder communication and the preparation of shareholder protection measures, and these regulations apply equally when a subsidiary lists on an overseas exchange. The government plans to gather opinions through the 14th of this month and implement the regulations through an FSC resolution as early as the 29th.

4. Takaichi's 'Expansionary Fiscal' Shock…10-Year Yield Hits Another High in 3 Days

- Key Summary: The yield on Japan's 10-year government bonds soared to 2.830% during the session on the 6th, hitting its highest level in about 30 years since October 1996. Under the "Honebuto" policy officially adopted by the government of Sanae Takaichi, fiscal spending of 10 trillion yen (about 9.451 trillion won) is scheduled annually, and the deletion of references to fiscal consolidation led to large-scale bond selling and a sharp rise in yields, according to analysis. The expansionary fiscal shock also spread to yen weakness, with the yen-dollar exchange rate rising above the 162 yen range during the session that day, approaching its lowest level in 40 years since the 1986 Plaza Accord.

5. Chinese VCs Eyeing Korean Physical AI…Korea-China Alliances Get Underway

- Key Summary: Spark Physical AI Ventures, based in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, visited Korea in the middle of last month and explored possibilities for collaboration with players in the domestic AI and physical AI (artificial intelligence combined with the physical world, such as robots and autonomous systems) industries. The company presented a strategy to create a global physical AI company by combining Korea's fast market response speed, manufacturing and semiconductor data, and system integration (SI) capabilities with China's manufacturing execution and supply chains. China has excellent mass-production capabilities, accounting for 90% of the world's humanoid robot production, but has limits in algorithm, data, and computing capabilities, which is the background for its strong demand for collaboration with Korean companies. However, some domestic startups are concerned about the impact that Chinese capital investment could have on their U.S. businesses, leaving geopolitical risk as a challenge for collaboration.

6. KT (030200) Bets 18 Trillion Won on Telecom and AX…Nurtures New Business 'Token Factory'

- Key Summary: Park Yoon-young, CEO of KT, announced the "AX Platform Company" strategy of investing a total of 18 trillion won in core areas such as artificial intelligence transformation (AX) and networks at his first press conference after taking office on the 6th. With 12 trillion won, including 4 trillion won for information security and IT and 8 trillion won for networks, the company will secure sixth-generation (6G), satellite, and data center interconnect (DCI) technologies, and it plans to invest 6 trillion won in AI infrastructure to additionally establish more than 20 AI data centers (AIDC) with a total capacity of 1GW (gigawatt). As new growth engines, it presented the Token Factory and stablecoins. The Token Factory is infrastructure capable of supporting the creation, brokerage, and billing of tokens, a new economic unit in the age of AI agents, and the plan is to combine it with KT's AI data center capabilities to nurture it as a flagship AX business model. In addition, the company plans to enter Southeast Asian markets such as Thailand and Vietnam as a stablecoin-based digital financial platform by combining K-bank's base of 16 million customers, BC Card's payment and settlement capabilities, and KT's security infrastructure.