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\t\tThe Kospi breached the 7,000 mark\t<\/p>\n\t\t\tWednesday 06 May 2026 11:09 am\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\tThe Kospi breached the 7,000 mark\t<\/p>\n
South Korea\u2019s bluechip index soared to record highs during Wednesday trading, after a rally in semiconductor stocks propelled it past the 7,000 mark.<\/p>\n
The index surged 6.4 per cent to 7,384.5 points after strong gains from heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.<\/p>\n
Samsung Electronics rocketed 14.4 per cent to 266,000 KRW (\u00a3134.7), with its performance lifting its market capitalisation to $1 trillion, making it just the second Asian company to do so after Taiwan\u2019s standout stock TSMC.<\/p>\n
Shares in rival SK Hynix <\/a>also leaped 10.6 per cent to 1,601,000 KRW.<\/p>\n Wall Street surge<\/p>\n The record rally followed a surge in chip stocks on Wall Street<\/a> overnight, after US chipmaker AMD forecast second-quarter revenue above analyst expectations.<\/p>\n AMD shares surged nearly 12 per cent in the hours following its reports, causing a scramble to invest in AI infrastructure.<\/p>\n AMD said it expects second quarter revenue of roughly $11.2bn (\u00a38.2bn) ahead of forecasts of $10.5bn, while its data centre business grew 57 per cent year on year.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n \t\t\tKospi nears record 7,000 as Samsung family pay off huge inheritance tax bill<\/a><\/p>\n Chief executive Lisa Su said the company now expects the server CPU market to exceed $120bn by 2030 as AI workloads accelerate.<\/p>\n Kospi heavyweights<\/p>\n Samsung Electronics accounts for a quarter of the Kospi, with the stock\u2019s value riding the wave of the AI boom, quintupling in the past 12 months.<\/p>\n Samsung has increasingly shifted its focus to memory chips, despite being well known for its cheap home appliances,Galaxy smartphone range and supplying screens for iPhones, after relentless growth in capex spending by tech firms, making chips one of the most powerful and important sectors.<\/p>\n Both Samsung and SK Hynix make chips that tech giant Nvidia and other hyperscalers depend on, with the demand turning Samsung into one of the world\u2019s most profitable companies.<\/p>\n But analysts see the company as having even more space to run, with Neil Wilson, investor strategist at Saxo UK, noting that \u201canything related to chips and memory is going skywards at the moment\u201d.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, the index itself has risen by more than 70 per cent this year, after gaining 76 per cent in 2025, off the back of the performance of semiconductor stocks coupled with improvements to corporate governance and other reforms by the government.<\/p>\n Other Asian countries are also benefiting from the boom, with Taiwan\u2019s TAIEX up 40.1 per cent since the start of the year, driven by the performance of TSMC, while Vietnam <\/a>is evolving into a significant player in the industry, driven by investments into its semiconductor supply chains.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n