AI minted fortunes across Asia. Now we're seeing where the money goes.

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.

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%. Revenue from international customers jumped 82%.

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The strength fits a pattern BofA has found in past market cycles. Korean department-store sales tend to follow increases in household equity investment, with the relationship strongest at a lag of about a year.

LVMH reported strong first-half growth in Asia outside Japan. CEO Bernard Arnault highlighted the "remarkable performance" of Louis Vuitton's new stores in Seoul and Beijing as one factor behind faster growth in the second quarter.

Richemont, the owner of Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, also reported strong demand. Asia-Pacific sales rose 21% in the quarter ended June, with South Korea and Taiwan among its strongest markets.