[Anchor]

Semiconductor stocks led a sharp rally on the KOSPI after a long hiatus. Analysts attribute this to growing expectations that demand for semiconductors will further increase following U.S. OpenAI's release of a new model.

Reporter Lee Tae-gwon has the story.

[Reporter]

Starting at 6,910, the KOSPI maintained its upward momentum and closed up 4.6% at 6,995.

Leaving just 4.6 points shy of the 7,000 mark, it reached its highest level in a month and a half.

Semiconductor stocks showed strong gains, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix soaring 5.6% and 8.2%, respectively.

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

OpenAI explained that Astra is not specialized in a specific field, but rather an early version of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) that learns and reasons across various fields to solve problems.

The market anticipated that as AI's computing and data processing volumes increase, the demand for semiconductors will also surge.

[Interview / Han Ji-young / Researcher, Kiwoom Securities: Looking at the overall functional characteristics of (Astra), it is an environment where more tokens inevitably have to be used. When more tokens are used, it ultimately leads to an increase in memory demand. The effect of improving suppressed investment sentiment is being 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 using the company's chips.

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

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

[Interview / Kim Jae-seung / Researcher, Hyundai Motor Securities: While it is true that memory stock prices were good, it does not seem easy to immediately resolve concerns over a supply-demand vacuum. Retail investors do not have strong buying momentum right now, and for foreign investors, the current macroeconomic environment is actually not favorable. Oil prices continue to rise and interest rates are also going up.]

Entering this month, the daily average 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)