SK Hynix and Samsung shares surge over 20% as AI rally roars back
Shares of South Korea’s chip giants SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics saw sharp gains on Friday, rising over 25% and 20% respectively. This movement follows a broader rebound in the technology sector as investors regain confidence in artificial intelligence spending.
The rally in Seoul tracks significant gains in U.S. markets after positive earnings reports from Amazon and Microsoft. Both companies posted results that beat expectations, particularly within their cloud computing segments. These figures eased recent market concerns regarding the sustainability of high infrastructure spending on artificial intelligence hardware.
Japanese semiconductor stocks also participated in the market shift. Advantest climbed nearly 18% while Tokyo Electron and other sector peers saw notable double-digit increases. SoftBank Group, which holds a significant stake in Arm, also benefited from the increased interest in technology assets.
This recovery marks a change from earlier in the week, when semiconductor stocks faced a sell-off driven by worries about high valuations and competition from memory chipmakers in China. Analysts now point to more disciplined capital spending by tech firms as a key factor in stabilizing investor sentiment for the remainder of the quarter.