Hans van LeeuwenJun 1, 2026 – 11.54amOn a South Korean online forum this week, “Muenyu” related how his wife had recently seen her sister with a new designer handbag worth 5 million won ($4600) and asked how she’d afforded it.“Her husband bought her the bag because she recently made over 1000 per cent profit from [holding shares in] SK Hynix and about 50 million won from Samsung,” Muenyu wrote, referring to the two largest companies on the South Korean stock exchange.The Telegraph LondonSubscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Fetching latest articles
Welcome to the world’s wildest sharemarket
Investment fever has gripped South Korea, with the market up 90 per cent this year. But fears are growing over the country’s murky governance practices.
TL;DRAI
South Korean retail investors are posting extreme returns on semiconductor stocks, with anecdotes of 1,000%+ gains on SK Hynix and multi-million-won profits on Samsung circulating on domestic forums. The concentration of outsized retail gains in memory chip makers signals elevated valuation expectations baked into the sector — relevant for any tech org sizing capital exposure or benchmarking M&A multiples in the semiconductor supply chain.
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