Week in Review: AI Power Race, Palantir's AR Question, and EM Currency Pressure Define Sept 1-6

The Quick Take

• AI power infrastructure emerged as the week's defining capex theme — from SpaceX gas turbine breakthroughs to KEPCO bond expansion for AI fab power
• Palantir's $1.49B accounts receivable sparked the week's biggest valuation debate: software multiple or consulting fee?
• Emerging markets faced synchronized pressure — Korean won -250 won, Indian rupee at ₹94+ — as delayed Fed cuts kept dollar strength intact
• Korea's K-shaped economy and ZEE Entertainment's ad revenue collapse both point to the same macro reality: the commodity shock split winners from losers unevenly

This week's most consequential market theme wasn't a single stock move — it was the convergence of AI compute demand and energy infrastructure investment. Elon Musk's announcement that SpaceX's in-house foundry can bring gas turbines online 18 months faster than conventional suppliers crystallized what AI data center operators already know: the bottleneck isn't capital, it's power procurement timelines. Meanwhile, in Korea, KEPCO's plan to issue additional bonds for transmission network investment — even after receiving ₩25 trillion in advance payments from Samsung and SK Hynix — confirmed that AI semiconductor fabs are now the primary force reshaping utility capital structures. Power infrastructure is the new silicon.

The week's most contentious valuation debate was sparked by Michael Burry, who flagged that Palantir's accounts receivable grew 43% in H1 2026 to $1.49 billion — a balance sheet profile Burry says looks more like a consulting firm than a scalable software platform. PLTR trades at software-tier multiples; if the AR profile signals consulting-style revenue, the valuation re-rating could be significant. Separately, Innodata fell 10% despite a strong earnings beat, and JFrog's CFO sold $1.6M in shares after the stock's 90% annual gain — a week that reminded investors that sentiment can override fundamentals in the short run, even for AI-linked growth names.

Emerging markets had a difficult week. The Korean won depreciated 250 won against the dollar over two months as capital outflows continued, while Seoul's Ninewon Hannam luxury apartment sold for ₩25.5 billion — a record — illustrating the same K-shaped economic split visible in Korea's macroeconomic data. In India, the rupee is trading near ₹94-95 per dollar as the Reserve Bank of India faces a policy dilemma: defend the currency with rate hikes or protect the domestic recovery. Next week, watch the RBI MPC outcome, US September CPI, and Palantir's next quarterly filing for clarity on the AR composition debate. The Fed's delayed pivot remains the single largest overhang for EM currencies and high-multiple growth stocks alike.

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