South Korea moves to block Polymarket over gambling concerns
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South Korean regulators are reviewing whether Polymarket constitutes illegal gambling, giving it an opportunity to respond before making a decision.
PANews reported on July 6 that, according to The Block, South Korea's media regulator will give Polymarket an opportunity to respond before deciding whether to take corrective action against its prediction market platform. The regulator is reviewing whether Polymarket's services constitute illegal gambling activities prohibited by South Korean law.
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."
Nomura Securities: Market concerns about "overcapacity" may be excessive; South Korean chip investment is unlikely to quickly translate into production capacity.
According to Mars Finance, Nomura Securities analysts stated in a recent report that market concerns about "computing power oversupply" may be excessive, and the memory chip industry still has a long way to go before entering a downward cycle. The market is currently facing a severe shortage driven by artificial intelligence demand, with major chip manufacturers prioritizing the production of more profitable high-bandwidth memory (HBM), leading to limited supply of ordinary DRAM and NAND. Nomura analysts emphasized that in this context, concerns about oversupply are excessive. Because the semiconductor industry's construction and development cycles are often very long, projects announced by South Korean chip giants are unlikely to have a substantial impact on supply for several years. (Cailian Press)
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.
Citrini Analyst: China's CXMT tests pilot production line for bonding DRAM; South Korean media claims its technology and development speed may be ahead of its South Korean rivals.
According to a Odaily by Citrini analyst Jukan on the X platform, South Korean media reports that China's CXMT is currently testing a bonded DRAM pilot production line in Hefei, aiming to achieve high-performance DRAM without using EUV lithography. Bonded DRAM is a technology that manufactures the memory cell array and peripheral circuitry on separate wafers and then bonds them together. This method can produce ultra-high-density DRAM using only multi-patterned deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography, without requiring EUV equipment. Samsung Electronics is developing its own bonded DRAM under Project B1b, and SK hynix is also advancing similar technology. South Korean media warns that assessments suggest CXMT may currently be ahead of its South Korean competitors in terms of both the technology itself and the speed of its development.
Concerns about AI computing power leasing triggered a sharp drop in South Korean stocks, while SK Hynix contract trading remained active on the Gate.com platform.
According to Mars Finance, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's revelation that the company is considering leasing its surplus AI computing power has sparked market concerns about a shift from buying to leasing AI infrastructure. This has led to a sharp drop in South Korean semiconductor giants, including SK Hynix, and the South Korean stock market (KOSPI). Gate platform data shows that SK Hynix (SKHYNIX) is currently trading at $1,538.3, having fallen nearly 10% at one point during the day. The stock market volatility has boosted trading activity in related contracts. According to CoinGlass data, Gate's SK Hynix (SKHYNIX) contract open interest exceeds $26.29 million, and 24-hour contract trading volume exceeds $34.41 million, both ranking among the top in the industry.