Nvidia’s Huang Says AI Stocks Are ‘Very Cheap’ as Samsung, SK Hynix Pare Early Losses

Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. plunged in early trading on June 8, shaking South Korea’s stock market. The selloff followed a rout in U.S. semiconductor shares, pushing Samsung below 300,000 won and SK Hynix below 2 million won. The losses later narrowed after a circuit breaker was triggered and the market stabilized.

As of 9:37 a.m., Samsung traded at 308,000 won, down 6.38% from the previous session, while SK Hynix was at 1.985 million won, down 4.11%. At 9:12 a.m., Samsung had fallen 9.27% to 298,500 won, dropping below the 300,000-won level. It slid as low as 292,500 won intraday.

At the same time, SK Hynix was down 8.02% at 1.904 million won, breaking below 2 million won. Shortly after the open, it fell as far as 1.855 million won.

The decline came after a correction in U.S. chip stocks. On June 5, disappointment over Broadcom Inc.’s earnings guidance coincided with pressure from rising interest rates after a strong U.S. May employment report, weighing on technology stocks broadly.

Micron Technology Inc. fell 13.2%, Sandisk Corp. dropped 11.4% and Nvidia Corp. lost 6.2%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index tumbled 10.2%. Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities Co., said the Kospi would likely remain in a volatile phase this week in the wake of Friday’s Wall Street selloff.

Some investors view the pullback as a correction rather than evidence of worsening semiconductor industry conditions. U.S. and South Korean chip shares had surged over a short period on expectations of expanding artificial intelligence demand and an improving memory-chip cycle. Kiwoom Securities said that from May through June 4, Micron rose 92.5%, Sandisk gained 60.5% and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index climbed 29.6%.

In South Korea, while the Kospi advanced 30.9% over the same period, Samsung gained 59.4%, SK Hynix jumped 78.6% and the semiconductor sector rallied 66.3%.

News of broader cooperation with Nvidia also appeared to help pare the losses.

At a media briefing with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won at SK Seorin Building in Seoul’s Jongno district, Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang said AI shareholders should be happy and that there could be more upside ahead. “They are very cheap right now,” he said.

Huang said AI demand will keep growing and that GPUs alone will not be enough. He said Nvidia would cooperate by producing Nvidia chips at SK Hynix fabs and using them at SK Telecom Co.

On the partnership, Huang said the contract was a multiyear agreement, longer than two years, and could be extended. Nvidia already purchases billions of dollars of products from SK Hynix each year, he added, and that figure will increase significantly.

“The future of AI is clearly very bright,” Huang said. “AI becoming core infrastructure around the world is, in effect, already a settled future.”

Kang Kyung-joo, Hankyung.com reporter qurasoha@hankyung.com