MSCI's latest quarterly index shuffle takes effect after today's close, and it is a clear win for Taiwan's memory chip and IC substrate makers.

• Six Taiwan stocks join MSCI's global standard index, including memory names Nanya Technology, Winbond and Phison, plus substrate makers Kinsus and Nan Ya PCB.
• Nanya Technology is now one of the three largest additions by market value in the emerging markets index, showing how much the memory boom has lifted these companies.
• Six names get dropped to the small cap index, including Taiwan Cement, Yang Ming Marine, Taiwan Business Bank and game maker International Games System.
• Index funds have to buy the newcomers and sell the dropped names, which drives extra trading volume around the switch.
• The backdrop is choppy: Taiwan's market has been swinging by a thousand points at a time after a recent 3,000-point plunge, though softer US inflation data has calmed fears of Fed rate hikes.

Outlook: Money should keep rotating toward memory, substrate and AI-linked names, while the demoted stocks face selling pressure from funds that track the index.