Market cap exceeds 6 quadrillion won as chip giants near 50 percent share
South Korea's Kospi surged past 7,400 points Wednesday, vaulting through the 7,000 mark for the first time, as a chip-led rally pushed the market's value above 6 quadrillion won ($4.12 trillion).
The benchmark index opened at 7,093.01, up 2.25 percent from Monday's close, immediately eclipsing its previous record of 6,937 set earlier this week.
Gains accelerated through the session, driving the Kospi above 7,400 in afternoon trading to an intraday high of 7,426.6, up more than 7 percent from the previous trading day, before it pared some gains to close at 7,384.56.
The rally was strong enough to trigger a buy-side sidecar about six minutes after the open, after Kospi 200 futures jumped more than 5 percent, temporarily halted program sell orders for five minutes. It marked the eighth buy-side sidecar this year.
From its 2025 close of 4,214 points, the Kospi has now gained more than 75 percent as of Wednesday's intraday high.
The surge also breached another psychological barrier, as the Korean benchmark index surpassed the S&P 500's latest close of 7,259.22, despite the US gauge rising 0.8 percent Tuesday to a fresh record.
Chip stocks powered the advance, turning the Kospi's rally into a concentrated surge led by its largest names. Samsung Electronics jumped as much as 16 percent to a record 270,000 won, lifting its market value above 1.5 quadrillion won for the first time and making it only the second Asian chipmaker, after TSMC, to cross the $1 trillion mark.
SK hynix extended its record run from Monday, climbing as much as 11 percent to over 1.6 million won. Its market value, which topped 1 quadrillion won for the first time earlier this week, rose further above 1.1 quadrillion won, placing it 16th among listed companies globally, behind Samsung Electronics at 11th.
Samsung Electronics and SK hynix closed at 266,000 won and 1,601,000 won, up 14.4 percent and 10.6 percent, respectively.
The rally also swept through related heavyweights. Samsung Electronics preferred shares, the third-largest Kospi stock by market value, gained more than 10 percent to hit an intraday record of 187,500 won. SK Square, SK hynix's largest shareholder and the fourth-largest Kospi stock, surged 26 percent to 1,149,000 won.
Together, the four chip-linked stocks accounted for nearly half of the Kospi's market value, helping push the benchmark's total capitalization above 6 quadrillion won for the first time.
Foreign investors powered the rally, snapping up a net 3.1 trillion won of Kospi shares. Institutions stayed on the selling side, unloading a net 2.3 trillion won, while retail investors swung through the session before turning net sellers of about 570 billion won.
Analysts see the Kospi's record rally as both a global chip-cycle story and a highly concentrated move, in which gains have been driven overwhelmingly by semiconductor heavyweights.
Shinhan Securities analyst Kang Jin-hyuk said the Kospi's "melt-up continued, led by semiconductors," as easing Middle East tensions and foreign inflows fueled the rally. He said memory chip shares surged as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq extended their record run, but noted that the rally in Seoul remained narrow, with decliners outnumbering gainers 680 to 190.
IM Securities analyst Park Sang-hyun said the semiconductor upcycle was also changing how Korea's market absorbed macro shocks, including higher oil prices.
"The biggest reason the Kospi can show a strong rally, unlike in previous high-oil periods, is that the semiconductor trade surplus is far exceeding the oil deficit," the analyst said, adding that the artificial intelligence-led chip cycle is giving Korea's economy and stock market stronger momentum than in past episodes of elevated energy prices.
The Kosdaq, Seoul's secondary index, failed to join the rally, falling about 0.3 percent to close at 1,210 even as the Kospi surged.
The won briefly weakened against the US dollar, starting trading at 3 won off the pace at 1,465.8. It strengthened as trading progressed, closing regular trading at 1,455.1 against the greenback.
jwc@heraldcorp.com
