South Korea's AI-driven stock surge is making chipmakers rich but barely reaching ordinary people, while Taiwan looks better placed to turn the boom into real spending.

• South Korea's main stock index is up sharply this year on the back of Samsung and SK Hynix, and chip workers are collecting huge bonuses.
• Retail spending at home has gone nowhere since 2019 — Goldman Sachs calls it a "K-shaped" economy where company profits soar and household spending stalls.
• The root cause is age: one in five South Koreans is over 65, the birth rate is the world's lowest, and the share of dependents is rising faster than in any other major economy.
• Korean retirees keep saving instead of spending — people in their 60s save close to 40% of income — and most of their wealth is locked in property they want to leave to their children.
• Taiwan is aging just as fast but its households hold financial assets worth five times GDP, versus one times in South Korea, so older Taiwanese spend more freely.

Outlook: Korean consumer spending is likely to keep weakening even if growth holds up, while Taiwan is better positioned to convert AI profits into a broader wealth effect.