Samsung, SK hynix lift KOSPI to record high

South Korea’s KOSPI rose 2.15% to a record 6,615.03 in Seoul on April 27, as chip and power equipment stocks climbed ahead of quarterly results from Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, and other big US tech firms.

Foreign and institutional investors bought a net 2 trillion won (US$1.35 billion) of shares, while retail investors sold a net 2 trillion won (US$1.34 billion), with trading totaling 33 trillion won (US$22.4 billion).

Samsung Electronics gained 2.28%, memory chipmaker SK hynix rose 5.73%.

Power equipment makers LS Electric and Hyosung Heavy Industries jumped 12% and 10.95%.

Battery makers LG Energy Solution and Samsung SDI fell, and the won strengthened by 12 against the US dollar to 1,472.5.

🔗 Source: Yonhap

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

A profit boom draws global investors to Korean tech

Samsung’s rally comes from a sharp earnings jump linked to AI memory demand 1. In the first quarter of 2026, its preliminary operating profit rose 755% from a year earlier and topped its operating profit for all of 2025 1.
SK hynix also posted record first-quarter profit and revenue, while its operating margin reached 72%, the highest on record 2.
Foreign investors view both stocks as cheap against earnings. Samsung and SK hynix are expected to generate combined operating profit of about five times that of TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, while their combined market value stays lower 3. Retail selling may be profit-taking after domestic individual investors built positions with record margin debt, or borrowed money used to buy stocks 4.

AI demand reshapes supply chains and infrastructure

AI memory demand is pushing the semiconductor business toward longer supply deals 5. Chipmakers are discussing contracts that run three to five years, which suggests the shortage will last 5.
The upswing reaches beyond chips into power and data center equipment. LS Electric and Hyosung Heavy Industries, along with HD Hyundai Electric, a South Korean electrical equipment maker, have combined order backlogs above 30 trillion won (US$20.4 billion) as AI data center demand climbs 3.
Demand for High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), a type of high-speed memory used in AI chips, is stretching the chip supply chain and adding to a wider memory shortage 2. One industry leader expects the global chip wafer shortage to last until 2030, making memory a bottleneck for AI expansion worldwide 2.