Samsung and SK Hynix Extend Rally as Chip Export Momentum Overrides Analyst Caution

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix closed sharply higher for a third straight session on August 13, with Samsung gaining around 4 percent and SK Hynix more than 5 percent, as surging semiconductor exports and simultaneous buying from foreign and institutional investors outweighed a fresh warning from Kiwoom Securities that commodity memory prices may be near their peak. The three-day advance marked a decisive reversal from the start of the week, when both stocks surrendered early gains and finished lower amid renewed concerns tied to China.

A Week That Turned in the Middle

The rally did not begin cleanly. On August 10, both chipmakers jumped in early trading before reversing course and closing slightly below their previous finish, a pattern attributed to negative headlines out of China. The soft tone carried into the following morning, with SK Hynix down more than 1 percent and Samsung off 0.65 percent shortly after the open on August 11.

The turn came that same day. Samsung finished the August 11 session up more than 4 percent, with SK Hynix eking out a 0.35 percent gain, as fresh data pointing to a sharp increase in semiconductor exports revived expectations for earnings momentum. The move accelerated on August 12, when Samsung closed roughly 6 percent higher and SK Hynix added about 5 percent, with both foreign and institutional investors buying the two names — a combination that gave the advance more conviction than a retail-driven pop. The August 13 session extended the run, leaving both stocks with cumulative double-digit gains over three days.

Kiwoom Pushes Back on the Memory Cycle

The rally unfolded against a notably more cautious sell-side backdrop. Kiwoom Securities — the online brokerage spun up by Daou Technology in January 2000 — lowered its target prices on both Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, citing revised earnings forecasts and the burden of a potential peak-out in commodity memory. The call frames the central tension in the trade: export figures and near-term earnings momentum argue for further upside, while the memory price cycle that powered the sector’s run may be losing altitude.

That tension matters more for SK Hynix, whose business is concentrated in memory. The company, which began life in 1983 as Hyundai Electronics before joining the SK group in 2012, posted revenue of about 66.19 trillion won in fiscal 2024 — a scale that leaves its earnings acutely sensitive to where DRAM and NAND pricing goes from here.

Breadth Beyond the Big Two

The episode also revived a rotation dynamic that had been building whenever the two heavyweights paused. During the recent stretch in which Samsung and SK Hynix cooled off alongside a global semiconductor pullback, buying interest spread into small- and mid-cap names, easing the market’s heavy concentration in its two largest stocks. Whether that broadening survives a renewed surge in the index leaders is now one of the more consequential questions for Korean equity positioning.

Not Every Blue Chip Joined

The gains were not market-wide. Korea Electric Power Corporation, the country’s dominant electricity supplier, fell nearly 7 percent on August 13 after an earnings shock, sliding more than 5 percent intraday before closing at its lows. The divergence underscores that the week’s strength was a semiconductor story rather than a broad re-rating of Korean large caps: money moved toward the export-driven chip complex even as a major domestic utility was repriced sharply lower on its results.

For now, the burden of proof sits with the skeptics. Export momentum is measurable and current, while the peak-out thesis rests on where memory prices head over the coming quarters. The next earnings round from the two chipmakers will show which side the numbers favor.