SEOUL, June 25 (Reuters) - South Korean semiconductor shares rallied on Thursday after U.S. memory chipmaker Micron Technology's quarterly results and forecast beat expectations, boosting optimism over AI-driven chip shortages.
South Korea's SK Hynix also said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to $29.4 billion through a U.S. stock market listing, boosting investor expectations of a reduced valuation gap between the chipmaker and its smaller U.S. rival Micron.
Shares of SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics rose as much as 11.6% and 6.2%, respectively, in early trade, tracking a rally in U.S. chip stocks.
The benchmark KOSPI, in which Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix together account for more than 55% of market capitalisation, was trading up 5.2% as of 0139 GMT.
In a rollercoaster ride, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have seen their market capitalisation climb above $1 trillion this year.
Samsung is now worth around $1.47 trillion, giving it a market value greater than Tesla or Meta.
SAMSUNG U.S. LISTING?
Micron, a key supplier for Nvidia's AI chipsets alongside South Korean chipmakers, forecast quarterly profit and revenue well above expectations on Wednesday and said its customers had committed $22 billion to lock in supplies of memory chips, sending its shares surging 12% in after-hours trading.
The upbeat outlook reinforced expectations that AI-driven demand for memory chips will remain robust despite concerns over heavy spending on AI infrastructure.
"Memory shortages were triggered by the explosive need for AI factory infrastructure...and we believe the role of memory as a strategic asset in Artificial General Intelligence remains unchanged," JPMorgan analysts said in a note on Thursday, adding they saw little sign of demand destruction or memory-content optimisation that would ease the supply-demand imbalance.
JPMorgan continues to recommend investors "add on any dips" and maintain maximum exposure to South Korean equities, describing South Korea in a separate note on Thursday as its preferred market in the region, while raising a 12-month KOSPI target to 12,500 points. The KOSPI was trading at 8,913.27 in morning trade.
Jeff Kim, head of research at KB Securities-Jefferies, said Samsung is likely to join SK Hynix in listing its stocks in the U.S. market through American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), giving a boost to the share prices of Korean chipmakers which lag behind Micron in valuation.
"Chip stocks are at an inflection point. ADRs will be a strong catalyst for their valuation," he said.
($1 = 1,539.6600 won)
(Reporting by Heekyong Yang and Hyunjoo Jin Editing by Ed Davies)
