Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix advanced in Seoul on Tuesday, bucking the sharp decline in US semiconductor stocks as investors in Korea focused on persistent memory shortages and robust AI-driven demand. The divergence highlights a growing split between Korean memory makers and US chip designers in how they are valued amid the AI boom.
Samsung gained 0.7% and SK Hynix rose 1.82% by mid-morning, while the KOSPI was little changed. This followed a 5% drop in the PHLX Semiconductor Index on Monday, when AI-linked chipmakers were hit by concerns that a slower pace of frontier-model development could curb infrastructure spending.
The relative calm in Seoul is partly because Korean stocks had already absorbed much of the shock a day earlier. Samsung fell 4.05% and SK Hynix dropped 6.35% on Monday, dragging the KOSPI down 3.26%. Investors in Seoul reacted to the AI slowdown debate before Wall Street delivered its own selloff, and Tuesday's rebound suggests they are unwilling to sell the same concern twice without concrete evidence of weakening orders or memory consumption.
However, the recovery is not a broad vote of confidence. Individual investors sold more than 13 trillion won of Samsung and SK Hynix shares between September 1 and 11, while foreign investors also reduced exposure. Corporate treasury-share purchases absorbed much of that selling, providing a floor under the stocks.
Memory shortages complicate the bearish case
The simplest bearish chain is that slower AI development leads to lower capital expenditure, fewer accelerators, and ultimately less memory demand. But current supply conditions make that relationship less straightforward. Ben Barringer, global head of technology research at Quilter Cheviot, told CNBC that inference capacity remains constrained even if training and model rollouts slow. "Demand still far outstrips supply," he said, arguing that a modest slowdown may not materially damage company revenues.
TrendForce reported this month that DRAM industry revenue jumped 59.5% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter to nearly $154.73 billion. AI servers are driving demand for HBM and high-capacity server memory while supplier inventories remain historically low. The research firm expects server DRAM shortages and elevated pricing to extend into 2027 as capacity shifts towards HBM. That scarcity is already affecting chip prices: Chinese AI-chip suppliers have raised prices by roughly 20% to 50% on some products as HBM shortages increase costs.
Korea is watching where AI profits move
The bigger Korean investment case is that AI spending may increasingly reward memory suppliers rather than only GPU designers. "Next year, the center of profit will shift from graphics processing units to memory," Kim Dong-won, head of research at KB Securities, told the Seoul Economic Daily. That view helps explain why Samsung and SK Hynix can trade differently from Nvidia and other US semiconductor names. Their earnings are increasingly leveraged to memory pricing, HBM scarcity, and server demand rather than solely to the speed of the next frontier-model release.
The risk is that this distinction eventually disappears. Christopher Wood, global head of equity strategy at Jefferies, told the Korea Times that the biggest danger is markets deciding companies will not be able to "monetise this capex." If hyperscalers conclude their huge AI investments cannot generate adequate returns, spending cuts would eventually hit GPUs, servers, and memory alike.
For now, Korean investors are betting that memory shortages and AI demand will keep Samsung and SK Hynix resilient, even as US chip stocks face headwinds. The KOSPI's recent slide shows how sensitive the market is to AI sentiment, but the memory supply picture provides a buffer. As SK Hynix's recent rally demonstrated, AI memory demand remains a powerful driver. Still, the rise of Chinese DRAM makers could pressure margins over time, and macro factors like oil and yields can quickly shift sentiment.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
