South Korea's Kospi Enters Bull Market Territory: AI Trade Propels Chip Giants to New Heights

South Korea's benchmark Kospi index surged into technical bull market territory on Thursday, driven by a sharp recovery fueled by a global revival in artificial intelligence trade following last month's historic sell-off.

Samsung and SK Hynix Spearhead the Bullish Turn

According to data from LSEG, the index jumped over 4% in early trade, extending its rebound from the July 30 low to roughly 23%. This rally has been primarily led by the market's heavyweights:

■Samsung Electronics shares rose more than 4%.

■SK Hynix surged over 7%, driving the advance with intense investor interest.

Enduring Optimism in AI Infrastructure Spending

Investor appetite for technology hardware stocks is returning as the latest earnings from global tech giants point to continued heavy spending on artificial intelligence. This global optimism is providing a fresh boost to South Korean equities:

■Supermicro and cloud provider CoreWeave surged overnight following better-than-expected results.

■David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation, noted in a client note that "The AI spending boom is far from over," citing strong results from U.S. AI-related companies.

Technical Shifts in Memory Stock Dynamics

Fundstrat Global Advisors suggests that the rally in South Korean stocks has room to run further as strength returns to the country's heavyweight memory chipmakers. Memory shares, which were among the hardest hit during the recent tech sell-off, are beginning to outperform the broader tech sector for the first time since June:

■The iShares MSCI South Korea ETF has broken above a key technical level, improving the near-term outlook for Korean equities.

■Mark Newton, head of technical strategy at Fundstrat, stated that the ETF's move confirmed a reversal pattern that "looks attractive technically for further near-term gains."

From my perspective as Dr. Selen Yılmaz, the Kospi's pivot from bear to bull territory underscores a critical realization: the semiconductor cycle is no longer just about consumer electronics but is fundamentally anchored in AI infrastructure. The outperformance of memory stocks like Samsung and SK Hynix signals that the market is pricing in a sustained, multi-year expansion in data center capacity. While rising U.S. Treasury yields could dampen momentum later this month, the structural demand for high-bandwidth memory makes South Korea and its chip giants the right vehicles for near-term risk-on exposure.