South Korea’s stock market just had the kind of month that makes portfolio managers reconsider their life choices. Foreign investors yanked approximately 18.5 trillion won, roughly $13 billion, out of Korean equities in July 2026 alone. But buried inside that wave of selling was a curious exception: global funds kept nibbling at chipmakers.
The KOSPI carnage in numbers
South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI index dropped approximately 33% from its June peak through late July, with about $2 trillion in market value vanishing in weeks. At one point, the index suffered a two-day loss of 16% in late July, severe enough to trigger circuit breakers.
Cumulative foreign net selling in the first half of 2026 reached approximately 116.36 trillion won, or about $81 billion. July’s $13 billion outflow was just the latest chapter in what had become a sustained exodus from Korean equities, with foreign investors having been net sellers for six consecutive months prior to the July downturn.
Why chipmakers still get the love
