KOSPI Hits All-Time High of 5,969 as AI Data Center Power Demand Reshapes Energy Mix

AI accounted for roughly 50% of total global VC funding (similar ratio for third consecutive year), with substantial capital concentrated in frontier model firms (OpenAI, Anthropic) and large-scale computing infrastructure. AI revolution is reshaping global venture investment flows. (Source: Economic Times)

Mass selloff in software stocks occurred after Anthropic's AI plugin launch for legal and knowledge work. Concerns emerge that software industry could be at the center of the next credit cycle shock. (Source: Business Insider)

AI could boost productivity and corporate profits—driving GDP higher—while wages and employment weaken below the surface, creating a disconnect. Without policy intervention, gains may flow disproportionately to capital, intensifying inequality and straining fiscal systems. (Source: Economic Times)

AI transition is underway in India's roughly $300B IT services industry, but the CEO expects AI replacement to be limited since only 30% of software development is coding—the remaining 70% involves architecture and domain expertise. (Source: Economic Times)

China added 20 entities including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, IHI subsidiaries, and Japan National Defense Academy to dual-use goods export control list, and 20 more including Subaru and Sumitomo Heavy Industries to surveillance list, expanding China-Japan economic tensions across the defense industry. (Source: SCMP)

The benchmark index rose +2.11% on February 24, setting a new record. SK Hynix hit KRW 1,005,000 per share, a new high, as institutional net buying of KRW 2.37T drove the rally. (Source: Yonhap News)

Global order share reached 20.2%, up 6.2pp year-over-year, with the largest market share in high-value vessels including LNG carriers. The Korean government allocated KRW 320B (US$220M) for advanced shipbuilding technology development in 2026, up 23% from the prior year. (Source: Yonhap News)

The reading marks the highest since September 2000 during the dotcom bubble. Monthly CAPE exceeding 40 has occurred fewer than 3% of the time since 1957 (21 instances). US GDP growth in 2025 was 2.2%, the lowest in a decade excluding the pandemic, while PCE inflation hit 2.9% in December 2025, the highest since March 2024. (Source: Nasdaq)

Bitcoin fell 27% year-to-date in 2026, driven by tariff tensions and geopolitical risk aversion. The decline is assessed as "tactical derisking" rather than structural exodus. (Source: CNBC)

According to a joint UN FAO-IAEA report, up to 20% of global seafood and aquaculture products are mislabeled, with over 12,000 traded species and complex supply chains making the sector more vulnerable to fraud than other food sectors. In the US, up to one-third may be mislabeled, yet fewer than 1% of imported seafood undergoes inspection. (Source: Inside Climate News)

China-Latin America trade reached $518.5B in 2024 (over half of Southeast Asia's volume, 1.75x Africa's), while Chinese FDI in Latin America jumped 69% from $8.7B in 2023 to $14.7B in 2024. China is the largest trading partner for several South American countries and the second-largest for Latin America overall. (Source: SCMP)

Annual exports totaled 215 million tons, generating €85.5B (approximately $100.7B) in revenue, with 93% concentrated in China, India, and Turkey. However, the most recent 12-month period shows exports down 6% and revenue down 18%, suggesting sanctions are gradually taking effect. (Source: OilPrice)

India's oil import dependence hit 88.6% in the first 10 months of fiscal 2025-26. Driven by China's gasoline and diesel demand slowdown in 2024 and India's rising transport fuel demand, India overtook China as the world's largest source of oil demand growth. The Indian government launched a licensing round for 50 oil and gas field blocks, targeting exploration expansion to 1 million km². (Source: OilPrice)

Gas share fell to 3% during the same period (down from over 4% the prior summer), and wholesale power prices dropped 44% year-over-year. Yet the paradox persists: gas generation supplies roughly 5% of total demand but sets electricity prices up to 90% of the time. (Source: RenewEconomy)

Of the 21 cities that have hosted the Winter Olympics, only 8 are projected to be cold enough to reliably host the Games by century's end due to climate change. Oxford University research shows all Olympic Games since 1960 experienced budget overruns, averaging 159% (195% for Summer, 132% for Winter). (Source: The Guardian)

Peak July WBGT over the past decade exceeded 28°C—the UCI's competition safety threshold—across nearly all of France (analysis of 50 years of data from 1974-2023, published in Scientific Reports). Total intensity of extreme heat in Austria and most of central and southern Europe increased roughly 10-fold during 2010-2024 compared to 1961-1990. (Source: Carbon Brief)

72 tigers died from canine distemper virus within two weeks at Tiger Kingdom in Chiang Mai. Over 240 tigers were kept at the two facilities, and animal rights groups criticized the incident as exposing poor breeding conditions at captive tiger tourism sites. (Source: BBC World)

97cm snowfall at Rhode Island's TF Green Airport (breaking 1978 record), 48cm in New York's Central Park, over 2,000 flight cancellations, and hundreds of thousands of households lost power. Meteorologists rated it the most powerful storm in a decade. (Source: Al Jazeera)

Wildfires in Seosan, Yesan, Hamyang, and Miryang since the weekend mobilized 500 army personnel and 27 helicopters including 12 CH-47 Chinooks and 15 UH-60 Black Hawks. (Source: Yonhap News)

As of February 24, 2026, Russia occupies roughly 19% of Ukrainian territory. Russian territorial gains in 2025 totaled less than 5,000 km² (about 0.8% of Ukraine's total area), with the front lines stalled in World War I-style attrition. In a BBC documentary, four Russian frontline soldiers testified to executions of their own troops ("zeroing") by commanders. The World Bank estimates Ukraine's reconstruction costs over the next decade at approximately $588B. (Source: Al Jazeera, BBC World, SCMP)

Daily average rose from 232 vessels in 2024 (AMTI report). China added 40 Japanese defense and heavy industry firms to export control lists, expanding China-Japan economic tensions across the defense industry. (Source: SCMP)

According to the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) report, at least 1,034 were killed (up 21%) and 1,366 injured, marking the deadliest level in roughly a decade. (Source: Al Jazeera)

Four top leaders including politburo and central committee members surrendered to Telangana police, and during 2025-2026, 544 underground cadres (including 4 central committee and 15 state committee members) surrendered. Telangana police assessed the organization as effectively collapsed. (Source: The Hindu)

The first former head of state from Asia to be charged by the ICC, he faces three counts of crimes against humanity for indirect co-perpetration in at least 76 murders during the War on Drugs (November 2011-March 2019). Human rights groups estimate drug war deaths at up to 30,000. (Source: BBC World)

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose sweeping global tariffs is unconstitutional. According to Yale Budget Lab, approximately $142B in tariffs were collected under IEEPA through mid-December 2025. FedEx filed a lawsuit for full tariff refund immediately after the Supreme Court ruling. President Trump proposed a 15% "bridge tax" using Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. (Source: Al Jazeera)

The lowest since 2020, with audience count down 45.5% and average ticket price down 5.9%. China's retail sales growth fell to 0.9% in December 2025, the lowest in three years, and the GDP deflator recorded its 11th consecutive quarter in negative territory, signaling entrenched deflation. (Source: SCMP, CNBC)

According to a Rathbones Group survey, tech sector represented the largest share, with UAE as the primary destination followed by Spain and the US. (Source: The Register)