Omar Marques | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesSouth Korea's chip heavyweights SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics soared more than 20% in Seoul on Friday, tracking a sharp rally in U.S. technology stocks after blockbuster earnings from Amazon and Microsoft revived optimism around artificial intelligence spending.LG Innotek advanced 11.2% and Seoul Semiconductor rose 7.8%. Japanese chip stocks also rallied sharply. Advantest, climbed nearly 18%, while Tokyo Electron gained almost 9%, Disco rose over 13%, Lasertec advanced more than 12% and Renesas Electronics added over 10%. SoftBank Group, a key artificial intelligence proxy as its owns Arm, also jumped more than 9%.The chip rally in Asia marks a sharp reversal from this week's bruising sell-off, as semiconductor stocks were battered by concerns over lofty AI valuations and signs of intensifying competition from Chinese memory chipmakers.The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) surged more than 8% overnight, as investors piled back into AI-linked chipmakers following stronger-than-expected cloud results from the two U.S. tech giants.Amazon jumped more than 9% in extended trading after reporting second-quarter revenue that beat analysts' expectations, driven by continued strength in its cloud-computing business. Microsoft had rallied 16% during Thursday's regular session after reporting faster-than-expected Azure cloud growth, reinforcing confidence that AI infrastructure spending remains robust.
SK Hynix and Samsung shares surge over 20% as AI rally roars back
South Korea's chip heavyweights SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics soared more than 20% on Friday, tracking a sharp rally in U.S. technology stocks.
SK Hynix and Samsung jumped over 20% on blockbuster cloud earnings from Amazon and Microsoft, reigniting AI capex confidence. For infrastructure buyers, the rally confirms that cloud capex cycles—not valuation sentiment—will drive memory chip demand and supply constraints ahead.













