KOSPI Nears 7,000 Milestone… Why Semiconductor Stocks Surged Across the Board

[Anchor]

Following the unveiling of the new "Astra" model by U.S. artificial intelligence company OpenAI, domestic semiconductor stocks surged. Expectations of an explosion in semiconductor demand drove massive rallies in related shares, pushing the KOSPI up by over 4% and bringing it within arm's reach of reclaiming the 7,000-point mark.

Here is reporter Lee Tae-gwon.

[Reporter]

Opening at 6,910, the KOSPI maintained its upward momentum to close 4.6% higher at 6,995.

Leaving just 4.6 points shy of the 7,000 threshold, it marked the highest level in a month and a half.

Semiconductor shares showed strong performance, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix surging 5.6% and 8.2%, respectively.

This is interpreted as the impact of OpenAI's new AI model, "Astra," unveiled on the 3rd.

OpenAI explained that Astra is not specialized in a specific field, but rather an early version of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) capable of learning, reasoning, and solving problems across various domains.

The market anticipated that as AI computing and data processing volumes increase, demand for semiconductors will also skyrocket.

[Han Ji-young / Researcher, Kiwoom Securities: Looking at the overall characteristics of its functions, it is an environment that inevitably requires more tokens. Using more tokens ultimately increases memory demand, and the effect of improving suppressed investment sentiment is reflected in today's semiconductor rally....]

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also posted on his social media, declaring that the era of AGI has arrived and emphasizing that Astra was trained on the company's chips.

Goldman Sachs maintained its KOSPI target at 12,000 points, citing that the semiconductor earnings cycle could be prolonged.

However, concerns also linger that despite the AI-driven semiconductor tailwind, the domestic stock market lacks clear buying forces aside from treasury stock purchases by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

[Kim Jae-seung / Researcher, Hyundai Motor Securities: It is true that memory stocks performed well, but it doesn't seem easy to immediately resolve concerns over supply and demand vacuums. Individual investors' buying momentum is not strong right now, and for foreign investors, the current macroeconomic environment is actually not favorable. Oil prices continue to rise and interest rates are also high.]

Entering this month, the average daily trading value of the KOSPI has fallen below 20 trillion won, recording the lowest level this year.

(Video reporting: Kim Se-kyung, Bae Moon-san | Video editing: Kim Yoon-sung | Design: Jeon Yu-geun)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.