South Korea’s KOSPI Surges More Than 6.5% as Chip Stocks Rebound

The Korean KOSPI index rose more than 6.5 per cent on Thursday to a six-week high after a sell-off had already had an epic hit in the previous day. And major stocks of technologies and semiconductors rallied on Thursday, highlighting the continuing influence of chip companies in South Korea’s stock market.

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The strong move came after the KOSPI had suffered huge losses in the previous session in an international sell-off of artificial intelligence-linked stocks. Investors bought beaten-down technology shares and the market recouped much of the recent losses.

The biggest semiconductor companies were among the biggest beneficiaries of the rebound. Samsung Electronics also jumped huge gains in the rebound. Samsung Electronics jumped at the heart of the rebound and SK Hynix also did. Samsung Electronics led the way. Samsung Electronics jumped sharply, while SK Hynix also rose more than 12.7% were up 9.7% on the rebound and SK Hynix rose nearly 10.7% in Thursday’s trading and SK Hynix rose as much as 14.1% in the morning trading on Thursday.

The dramatic reversal underlines the extreme volatility today in South Korea’s stock market. The KOSPI has seen the largest daily swings on record so far in this year, when investors are reviewing the valuations of AI and semiconductor companies.

The technology sector has been a major driver of South Korea’s stock-market performance in 2026. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have benefited from the expectations surrounding AI infrastructure and demand for advanced memory chips. But the possibility of large valuations rising but also the sustainability of the AI rally has caused sharp profit-taking at times.

The latest rebound followed one such sell-off, in which investors evidently saw the fall as an opportunity to buy semiconductor stocks at lower prices. The revived demand for chipmakers supported the wider KOSPI and other major Asian markets.

The recent moves of the KOSPI have been particularly dramatic. In July, the index experienced one of its most dramatic swings and also had its most acute one-day decline on July 28, with a 10.84% decline. The market subsequently recovered and the KOSPI took a sharp jump on July 31.

So Thursday’s rally is yet another major swing in investor sentiment. The explosive recovery shows traders are still very sensitive to semiconductor earnings, AI demand, global technology stocks and US market trends.

The market conditions in the broader markets were also improved in general, and broader market conditions were also supportive. Asian shares also got support from an overall stronger market conditions were also good news in general had a positive outlook for global stock markets. Asian stocks were mostly higher on Wall Street, and a planned expansion of US Treasury sales of longer-term government debt buying to buy longer-term government debt were also strong in general, and the expectation of a bigger-than-expected increase of the US Treasury buying of government debt from longer-term government debt from long-term bonds and hopes for longer-term government debt, which helped ease fears of bond yields were also helping to ease worries about bond yields. Lower yields can also help stocks become more attractive and lower yields will boost equity prices and share prices.

For South Korea, the performance of semiconductor giants remains the most important given the impact they have on the domestic stock market and the country’s export-driven economy. Market demand for memory chips and AI-related hardware is so strong that the earnings outlook for major Korean technology companies has got better and better.

But we remain cautious of the market and in this way the recent volatility of the market shows sentiment can turn on quickly. The KOSPI's high swings have also been linked to leveraged trading and retail investor activity.

The surge will now raise questions about whether the rebound can be sustained or whether the investors will make profit again after the surge. Market participants will also closely monitor semiconductor prices, corporate earnings, global AI investment and US monetary policy expectations.

The more than 6.5% jump in the KOSPI represents a remarkable comeback for South Korean stocks and once again places the country’s semiconductor sector at the center of global market attention.