Global chip stocks have been on a rollercoaster, and Samsung Electronics, fresh off a record-breaking quarter, is stepping up to calm nerves as investors question whether the AI trade still has legs.
The Kospi crash and its ripple effects
South Korea’s Kospi index dropped 10% on June 23, a fall severe enough to trigger circuit breakers. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix each lost more than 12% in that single session. On July 2, the Kospi fell almost 8% more, extending a brutal stretch for chip investors.
The culprits were familiar: concerns about overcapacity in the semiconductor market, questions about whether AI infrastructure spending can sustain its current pace, and signals from the Federal Reserve about potential policy shifts.
Weakness in AI chip equities in Korea led to simultaneous declines in Bitcoin and altcoins during the June drops. The competition for capital between AI infrastructure and crypto has become a real dynamic, not just a theoretical one.
