Huang is expected to visit South Korea this week and meet with LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and other company executives.
South Korea’s tech giants, such as Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, reported a rise in share prices ahead of the much-anticipated meetings between Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Korean executives, which are expected to open many opportunities for AI and robotics.
Huang is expected to visit South Korea this week and meet with LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and other company executives. Huang will be attending the COMPUTEX trade show in Taipei on Monday, along with chipmakers like Samsung and SK Hynix. Nvidia could also host a ‘Korean Partner Night’ along with Computex.
Samsung shares jumped 9.5%, raising its market value above 2,000 trillion won ($1.32 trillion), and LG’s shares jumped 28%, as it begins to foray into robotics. Samsung’s share performance was also boosted by analysts’ predictions that Seoul’s semiconductor exports could reach a record high in June as demand for AI pushes South Korean exports to a four-decade high.
On Friday, Samsung announced that it began shipping samples of its latest high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, giving the company a head start compared to its competitors in distributing the latest version of a product so vital to AI data centres.
This chip, known as the 12-layer HBM4E, is over 20% faster than its previous-generation HBM4 products, and uses the latest sixth-generation 1c DRAM process technology. The Android mobile phone maker’s reason to roll out these chips is to regain momentum in the HBM market after rivals like SK Hynix and Micron were ahead of its supplies to clients like Nvidia.
Market analysts are hopeful of a mutually beneficial partnership between Nvidia and Korean companies during Huang’s visit, as they understand that Nvidia, being the biggest global chipmaker, needs South Korea. Last year, the company promised to supply over 260,000 of its most advanced AI chips to the South Korean government along with some of the country’s major tech companies, including Samsung and Hyundai Motor Group.
South Korea’s exports rose 53.2% from a year earlier to a record high of $87.75 billion, preliminary trade data revealed on Monday. Despite a global disruption in the supply chain, Asia’s fourth-largest economy has managed a 12th consecutive month of exports growing on a year-on-year basis.
The country has recorded its biggest percentage rise in export growth since January 1984, and this consistent positive performance has prompted the Central Bank to raise the economic growth forecast from 2% to 2.6% last week. Booming chip exports played a big part in this economic resilience during particularly turbulent geopolitical times.
Semiconductor exports in South Korea increased 169.4% in May to reach a record monthly high of $37.16 billion, according to trade data released on Monday. Memory chip prices continued to rise as a result of growing investment by US technology companies. Imports increased 20.8% to $60.80 billion, the highest level since August 2022, but fell short of the median 21.5% growth predicted by experts. Seoul’s trade balance hit an all-time high of $26.95 billion after surpassing $23.75 billion the month before.
The country’s benchmark KOSPI stock index has been recognised as the best-performing index in an AI-driven rally and rose over 2% to reach a new record. In the last five months, KOSPI has risen over 100%, thanks to favourable performances by Samsung and SK Hynix. These tech companies have brought in surging profits as prices of memory chips soar. Last year, KOSPI climbed 76%, its highest jump since 1999.
In conclusion, South Korean companies are gaining huge profits despite their international peers crunching numbers. With the arrival of Nvidia’s CEO to the country, this favourable streak is bound to continue, as both Nvidia and Korean tech companies need each other to maximise gains and develop an AI-driven future.
