South Korea Overtakes India as World’s No. 6 Stock Market on AI Chip Rally

South Korea’s stock market has overtaken India to become the world’s sixth-largest, as investors piled into heavyweight chipmakers such as Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. amid the artificial intelligence semiconductor boom.

Bloomberg and other media outlets reported on June 2 that the combined market capitalization of companies listed in South Korea has surged 86% this year to $5 trillion. India’s stock market, by contrast, has fallen to $4.8 trillion.

South Korea had already surpassed Canada and several European markets earlier this year before moving ahead of India. Taiwan, the fifth-largest market, has a market capitalization of $5.15 trillion. With the gap relatively narrow, South Korea could climb to fifth place as well if the rally continues.

The Kospi has extended its steep gains. After topping the 5,000 level pledged by President Lee Jae-myung in January, the benchmark index rose above 8,800 intraday on June 2. Some Wall Street analysts have even mentioned the possibility of a move to 10,000.

Chip shares have been at the center of the rally. Investors have concentrated funds in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, both part of the core AI supply chain, swelling the overall value of the Korean stock market. Expectations for explosive demand for AI data centers and high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, have also driven domestic semiconductor stocks higher.

Concerns about overheating are also emerging. South Korea and Taiwan have drawn funds rapidly as their influence in the AI economy has come into sharper focus, but analysts say corporate governance reform will be needed for the momentum to continue.

Park Su-bin, Hankyung.com reporter waterbean@hankyung.com