HSBC economists say AI is likelier to produce direct inflation in South Korea,
where upstream hardware suppliers are concentrated. Bottlenecks in high‑tech
components and logistics are pushing up producer prices in those upstream
markets. HSBC expects the Bank of Korea may need to tighten policy and forecasts
one more rate hike by year‑end, with upside risk of further tightening into 2027
depending on how strongly AI-driven export growth transmits to domestic
activity.