As noted On October 8, "Meanwhile Korea's KOSPI index, of which Samsung and SK hynix comprise a bit over half the weighting" hence the memory ref. in the headline. I'll be here all week, be sure to tip the staff...
From Business Insider, October 12/13:
South Korea's chip-heavy stock market is plunging again as AI investors find more reasons to worry
South Korea's stock market plunged on Tuesday as investors found a new reason to worry about the AI trade.
The benchmark Kospi index fell more than 7% intraday to its lowest level since July 31, extending a dramatic reversal for what was once the world's hottest AI-fueled stock market.
AI chip heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix led the losses, falling 9% and 10%, respectively, by midday.
The weakness spread across Asia, with Japan's Nikkei and Taiwan's chip-heavy Taiex both falling around 3%. The declines followed another weak session for US semiconductor stocks overnight, including Micron.
Investors were weighing a growing list of concerns about the AI trade, from rising Chinese competition to questions over how the industry's massive infrastructure buildout will be financed.
"The latest catalyst has been further evidence of China's growing ambitions across the AI ecosystem," Chris Weston, the head of research at Pepperstone, wrote in a note Tuesday.
Weston pointed to Chinese memory-chip maker CXMT, which said it had made progress in developing technology that could pack more data onto memory chips and that it plans to introduce a new server-memory product by year-end.
CXMT has yet to demonstrate it can manufacture the technology at scale, and the announcement does not immediately challenge South Korea's lead in high-bandwidth memory chips used in AI accelerators...
....MUCH MORE
The stocks and index made a small recovery late in the session with Samsung and SK Hynix down7% and 9% and the index down the headlined 5.46%.
Here's one year of the KOSPI via TradingView:
