South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI index rallied nearly 3% in early trading, spearheading broader Asian market gains as investors piled back into semiconductor heavyweights on renewed optimism over global artificial intelligence infrastructure demand.
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Index Performance: The benchmark KOSPI opened sharply higher at 6,910.78, maintaining an advance of approximately 2.97% to trade near 6,886.09 by late morning. The rally helped the market recoup recent losses driven by broader macroeconomic volatility.
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Semiconductor Surge: Heavyweight chipmakers led the advance following fresh industry catalysts—including expectations sparked by advanced large language model rollouts and aggressive hyperscaler data center spending. Market leader Samsung Electronics jumped nearly 5%, while rival SK Hynix surged more than 8% to hit a multi-week high.
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Foreign and Institutional Support: Returning foreign and institutional buyers stepped in as net buyers, snapping up local shares as a stronger Korean won—hitting its highest level since late 2024—and robust export data reinforced overall market confidence.
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Institutional Bullishness: The rally also found fundamental backing from major Wall Street forecasts, with firms like Goldman Sachs reiterating long-term structural targets for the index based on surging compute demand, extended memory-cycle pricing, and multi-fold earnings growth across domestic tech conglomerates.
