When a stock goes up 400%, someone eventually sells. Foreign investors in South Korea apparently decided the first half of 2026 was that moment, executing a record $110 billion in net equity sales year-to-date, with June alone accounting for $31 billion, the largest single month of foreign selling in the market’s history.
To put that number in perspective: $110 billion is roughly the annual GDP of a mid-sized European economy, moved out of one stock market in six months.
The rally that built the exit ramp
The selling didn’t happen in a vacuum. It came after one of the most dramatic equity runs South Korea has ever seen, powered almost entirely by a global AI-driven semiconductor boom.
The KOSPI index approximately doubled in 2026. Samsung Electronics shares climbed over 400% during the period. SK Hynix, the memory chip maker whose products sit inside virtually every AI server being built right now, saw its shares peak at nearly 900% gains.
