Navigating Geopolitical Crosswinds: Why These Asian Tech Stocks Are Built for Long-Term Growth

Julian WestWednesday, Jun 25, 2025 7:06 pm ET
6min read

The tech sector in Asia has emerged as a linchpin of global innovation, driven by relentless R&D investment and secular tailwinds in AI, biotech, and infrastructure modernization. Yet, geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China, supply chain disruptions, and regulatory uncertainty have created a volatile backdrop. In this environment, companies with robust revenue/earnings trajectories, strategic partnerships, and technological differentiation are poised to outperform. Let's dissect three firms—HBM Holdings, Geovis Technology, and ASRock Incorporation—to uncover their growth drivers and investment merits.

1. HBM Holdings: The Memory Giant Fueling AI's Next Wave

Key Metrics (2024–2025):
- Global memory market revenue: $200B projected by 2025, up from $170B in 2024.
-

(High Bandwidth Memory) revenue: $34B in 2025, nearly double 2024 levels.
- CAGR for HBM through 2030: 33%, with Yole Group forecasting HBM to surpass 50% of the DRAM market by then.

Why It's a Buy:
HBM's dominance in AI-driven memory solutions positions it to capitalize on the $1.3T AI hardware market by 2030. Its partnerships with

(e.g., HBM3E validation for data centers) and investments in advanced 1-gamma DRAM nodes (20% better power efficiency, 30%+ bit density gains) underscore its R&D intensity. While geopolitical risks—like U.S. export controls—threaten supply chains, HBM's scale and ties to global tech leaders (e.g., Micron's Singapore HBM plant) mitigate these risks.

Biotech Angle: Though HBM's core business is hardware, its subsidiary HBM Healthcare Investments closed FY2024/25 with a CHF 19M net profit, driven by acquisitions in biopharma (Yellow Jersey Therapeutics, Dren Bio) and IPOs like SAI Life Sciences. This diversification hints at a broader ecosystem play.

2. Geovis Technology: AI-Powered Digital Earth Systems Lead the Charge

Q1 2025 Financial Highlights:
- Revenue: CNY 504.33M (+20.5% YoY).
- Net Income: CNY 20.78M (+998% YoY).
- Analyst Projections: 29.7% earnings growth and 29.3% revenue growth annually, far outpacing China's tech sector averages.

Growth Catalysts:
Geovis's AI-driven digital earth systems are revolutionizing sectors like smart cities and disaster management. Its software integrates satellite data, IoT sensors, and machine learning to deliver actionable insights. For instance, its platform helped optimize energy grids in Southeast Asia and disaster response systems in India.

While hardware partnerships are indirect (e.g., collaborations with infrastructure projects to enhance geospatial data processing), its R&D spend (projected at ~15–20% of revenue) is laser-focused on AI scalability. The recent share repurchase program and IPO-fueled R&D budget signal confidence in long-term dominance.

Risk Considerations: Regulatory hurdles in data privacy and competition from U.S. cloud giants (e.g., AWS, Google) pose headwinds. Yet, its 20x P/E valuation remains reasonable given its growth trajectory and niche positioning.

3. ASRock Incorporation: The Unsung Hero of AI Infrastructure

Financial Momentum:
- Trailing 12-month revenue (March 2025): $960M, up 20.1% from 2024 and 57.6% from 2023.
- Net income (TTM): $43.8M, reflecting operational efficiency.

Technological Edge:
ASRock's collaboration with NVIDIA is its crown jewel. As a key partner in NVIDIA's Blackwell architecture rollout, it supplies motherboards and servers for AI workloads (e.g., GB200 NVL2 platforms). Its recent patents (e.g., cooling modules for high-performance systems) and participation in NVIDIA's MGX modular data center ecosystem highlight its R&D prowess.

Biotech/AI Linkage: While ASRock's focus is on hardware, its systems underpin AI applications in healthcare (e.g., medical imaging analytics) and pharma (drug discovery simulations). Though not explicitly stated, its role in enabling edge computing for AI indirectly supports biotech's computational demands.

Investment Takeaway: ASRock's stock (ticker: ASROCK) is undervalued at current levels. Investors should monitor its Q2 2025 results for further momentum, particularly as NVIDIA's AI platform adoption accelerates.

Investment Strategy: Prioritize Resilience and R&D-Backed Growth

In a volatile geopolitical landscape, Asian tech investors must focus on firms with three pillars:
1. Revenue/Profit Momentum: Geovis's 10x net income jump and HBM's 33% HBM CAGR are non-negotiable.
2. R&D Intensity: ASRock's patents and Geovis's software innovation validate their commitment to staying ahead.
3. Strategic Partnerships: HBM's NVIDIA ties and ASRock's NVIDIA ecosystem role reduce execution risk.

Risk Management: Diversify across sectors—pair HBM (memory/AI) with Geovis (software/infrastructure) and ASRock (hardware) to hedge against regulatory shocks.

Conclusion: Asian Tech's Next Decade Belongs to the Bold and the Bright

HBM, Geovis, and ASRock exemplify firms that are not just surviving but thriving in Asia's tech renaissance. Their R&D-driven moats, AI-first strategies, and strategic alliances make them pillars of a new economic order. For investors, these stocks offer a rare blend of growth, resilience, and exposure to secular trends like smart cities and AI-as-infrastructure.

Final Call: Allocate 5–7% of a tech portfolio to each, with a 12–18-month holding period. Geopolitical headwinds will test volatility, but these companies are built to win—not just in Asia, but globally.

Data sources: Company financial reports, Yole Group forecasts, patent filings, and industry analyses as of June 2025.