Rebellions, a South Korean AI chip startup backed by Samsung Electronics, plans to IPO in South Korea next year.
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South Korean stock indexes fell 4%, Samsung Electronics fell 5%.
According to Odaily data, the South Korean KOSPI index fell by 4% intraday, with Samsung Electronics, which had previously released an earnings forecast, falling by 5%.
South Korean media: Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix may delay the introduction of next-generation HBM hybrid bonding technology.
According to Odaily Odaily, citing South Korean media reports, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are reassessing the timeline for adopting hybrid bonding technology in next-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM). Due to a decrease in the demand for thickness reduction and improved heat dissipation performance in HBM, the market anticipates that the adoption of this technology may be further delayed than previously expected. Meanwhile, both companies are developing new heat dissipation solutions such as HPB and iHBM, respectively, and plan to apply them to HBM5 products. However, industry insiders believe that as the number of HBM I/Os continues to increase in the future, hybrid bonding will remain an important technology route in the medium to long term.
US and South Korean stock price forecasts for Monday: Microelectronics is expected to rise more than 6% ahead of schedule, while Samsung Electronics is expected to open 4% higher.
According to BlockBeats, on July 5th, due to the US Independence Day holiday (July 3rd), the US stock market was closed on Friday, coinciding with the traditional market closure on Saturday and Sunday. "On-Chain Nasdaq" (2024111120230) achieved continuous trading and real-time price discovery through perpetual contracts, enabling it to pre-price the US and South Korean stock market performance on Monday. Trade.xyz Popular US stocks showed mixed performance compared to Thursday's after-hours close, and are expected to trade sideways with slight fluctuations before Monday's pre-market session. Weekend performance is as follows: Micron (MU) is currently trading at $1038.71, compared to $976.63 after Thursday's close; SanDisk (SNDK) is currently trading at $1856.65, compared to $1762.011 after Thursday's close; Nvidia is currently trading at $197.83, compared to $194.44 after Thursday's close; Intel is currently trading at $124.2, compared to $121 after Thursday's close; Google is currently trading at $360.06, compared to $359.91 after Thursday's close; AMD is currently trading at $537.34, compared to $519.5 after Thursday's close; SpaceX is currently trading at $161.27. The US dollar was at $160.95 in after-hours trading on Thursday. Trade.xyz The weekend performance of popular South Korean stocks is as follows: Samsung Electronics is currently trading at $210.49, compared to a close of $202.35 on Friday; SK Hynix is currently trading at $1623.16, compared to a close of $1585 on Friday.
Multiple factors drove a correction in South Korean stocks: profit-taking by Samsung and SK Hynix, collective withdrawal of foreign capital, and amplified concerns about oversupply risks and fundamentals.
According to BlockBeats, on July 6th, based on Bitget market data, the South Korean stock market has been experiencing a continuous downward correction recently. On July 2nd, the KOSPI index once plummeted by nearly 8%, triggering a trading halt, with SK Hynix falling by over 14% and Samsung by over 9%. On July 3rd, it fell by over 3% in the morning session before rebounding sharply. Today, the South Korean stock market continued its downward trend, falling by over 3% at one point, driven by multiple factors: Samsung and SK Hynix have excessively high weightings, leading to concentrated profit-taking. Currently, the weighting of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, two core AI memory stocks, in the KOSPI has risen to approximately 50%, meaning that fluctuations in the memory sector can cause significant volatility in the entire South Korean index. After a continuous surge in recent months, concentrated profit-taking has become the driving force behind the recent natural correction. US stock market correction sentiment spills over. In the global market, the recent collective correction in US semiconductor, memory chip, and optical communication sectors has triggered a global sell-off in technology stocks. Market concerns include the sustainability of AI capital expenditure and overvaluation. South Korean stocks are highly sensitive to sentiment in the US tech sector and are similarly affected by spillover effects from US market sentiment. The structural fragility of the South Korean market amplifies the decline. The assets of 2x leveraged products tracking Samsung and SK Hynix are enormous, far exceeding the average daily trading volume of the stocks themselves. Forced rebalancing during declines further fuels selling and exacerbates the fall. The high leverage of retail investors combined with margin trading creates a chain reaction, causing frequent extreme volatility in the South Korean stock market. Foreign capital is fleeing South Korea. Recently, foreign investors in South Korea net sold 7.7 trillion won (approximately US$4.98 billion) worth of KOSPI shares on Monday, setting a record for the largest single-day sell-off. Combined with factors such as pressure on the won's exchange rate, this further undermines foreign investor confidence. Oversupply risks raise fundamental concerns. Samsung and SK Hynix plan massive investments in new memory chip factories, totaling tens of billions of dollars. The market worries that a significant increase in future capacity will put downward pressure on memory prices. Meanwhile, demand from major customers such as Nvidia for higher-stack HBM chips has slowed, shaking market confidence in the sustainability of the "AI supercycle."
South Korean chip stocks have extremely high leverage concentration; the SK Hynix leveraged ETF has assets exceeding four times its average daily trading volume.
According to Mars Finance, on July 5th, The Kobeissi Letter reported that leverage levels in South Korean chip stocks have spiraled out of control. The total assets of single-stock leveraged and inverse ETFs tracking SK Hynix are currently around $19 billion, more than four times the stock's average daily trading volume of approximately $4.5 billion this year. Meanwhile, leveraged ETFs related to Samsung have assets of approximately $12.4 billion, 176% higher than its average daily trading volume of approximately $4.5 billion. The Hong Kong-listed 2x long SK Hynix ETF has assets of approximately $13 billion, roughly twice SK Hynix's average daily trading volume, representing the largest gap among major stocks tracked by leveraged ETFs. In comparison, leveraged ETFs related to Micron (MU) have assets of approximately $9.9 billion, lower than its average daily trading volume of approximately $27.5 billion; leveraged ETFs for Tesla (TSLA) and Nvidia (NVDA) have assets of approximately $6 billion and $5.6 billion respectively, also significantly lower than their average daily trading volumes of approximately $23.6 billion and $28.8 billion. South Korean chip stocks have extremely high leverage concentration.
South Korean stocks plunge 20%, nearing a bear market; the AI boom faces the awkward situation of "the more disastrous the earnings, the steeper the decline."
According to BlockBeats, on Wednesday afternoon, July 8th, South Korean stocks extended their losses as investors reassessed the outlook for AI demand. The KOSPI index fell by more than 6% at one point, breaking below 7200 points, and has cumulatively fallen by more than 20% from its all-time high last month, poised to enter technical bear market territory. Memory chip maker SK Hynix fell by as much as 5%, and Samsung Electronics fell by 6.9%. The Korea Exchange initiated a temporary trading halt on the KOSPI index, suspending algorithmic trading. South Korean stocks were among the strongest performing markets globally this year, but their performance is highly dependent on SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, amplifying volatility when sector sentiment weakens. Even with Samsung Electronics announcing a 19-fold surge in quarterly profits earlier this week, chip stocks continued to be under pressure. Jordan Klein, a TMT sector expert at Mizuho Securities, stated that investors overreacted to Samsung's preliminary second-quarter results. He believes this sell-off in semiconductor stocks is more a sign of waning momentum than a deterioration in fundamentals. Klein stated that excluding one-off bonus expenses, Samsung's operating profit actually significantly exceeded expectations, with its storage business implied operating margin potentially exceeding 80%. He indicated that Samsung's single-quarter operating profit has already surpassed the total of the past three years, and reacting to Samsung's stock price based solely on preliminary results is "extremely short-sighted." Meanwhile, an AI trading rotation occurred in Asian markets. Hong Kong-listed Chinese stocks rose, with the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rising as much as 3.4%, the Hang Seng Tech Index rising over 5% intraday, Alibaba rising over 8%, and Tencent rising over 3%. Market analysts believe that funds are flowing from crowded trades focused on AI infrastructure to markets with lower valuations and more value-oriented characteristics. Reuters' report on DeepSeek's self-developed chip and The Information's report on Zhipu AI considering designing its own AI chip further fueled this rotation. (Jinshi)