AI chip sector drives sharp gains in Japan and South Korea

Huo Xing Finance reports that on July 22, enthusiasm for the AI industry chain intensified again, with semiconductor sectors in Japan and South Korea surging sharply today. South Korean semiconductor giant SK Hynix rose over 9% at its peak, while Samsung Electronics climbed more than 6%, driving the KOSPI index up over 6% intraday. The Korea Exchange subsequently activated the Sidecar mechanism to suspend programmatic buying of KOSPI stocks. Japan’s market also strengthened in tandem, with the Nikkei 225 rising approximately 1.7%, led by semiconductor stocks. Kioxia surged over 8%, ROHM increased over 4%, and SoftBank Group rose over 3%. Overnight, U.S. semiconductor stocks rallied collectively, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index closing up 5.21%, as all 30 components advanced. Intel and AMD both rose over 8%, Arm climbed over 7%, and TSMC’s ADR gained over 5%. Memory-related stocks performed strongly, with SanDisk up over 14%, SK Hynix’s ADR up over 13%, and Micron Technology and Western Digital both rising over 12%. Market analysts believe the AI capital expenditure cycle is far from over, with strong ongoing demand for data center construction, computing power, storage, and network infrastructure. Recent improvements in Asian export data, along with price hikes by firms like TSMC, have further bolstered market confidence in demand across the AI industry chain.