Kospi Jumps 18% as SK Hynix, Samsung Surge on AI Earnings
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- South Korea's Kospi closed almost 18% higher on Friday, partly reversing a three-day rout that wiped hundreds of billions of dollars off the market.
- SK Hynix shares jumped almost 30%, while Samsung Electronics gained 28%, with both chip makers leading the recovery from this week's AI-related sell-off.
- Strong earnings from Amazon (up 9%+ in after-hours trading Thursday) and Microsoft (up 15%+) eased fears about hundreds of billions in AI capex and reignited investor optimism across the sector.
- South Korean regulators unveiled new measures aimed at curbing this week's sell-off, as the Kospi has triggered circuit breakers multiple times this year amid heavy retail trading.
- Chip-driven gains also lifted markets in Japan and Taiwan, showing the AI-linked rally's regional spillover beyond Seoul.
- Despite steep falls since hitting a record high in mid-June, the Kospi remains more than 50% above its end-of-2025 level.
Why it matters: The bounce illustrates how tightly South Korean markets track overnight U.S. tech sentiment — one strong earnings night from Amazon and Microsoft erased three days of losses for SK Hynix and Samsung, even as regulators had just been forced to step in to halt the preceding sell-off.
