Range-Bound Samsung, SK Hynix Frustrate Retail Investors as Brokerages Warn Against Buying More

Brokerages Say Upside Is Capped in Range-Bound Trade, Advise Against Additional Buying

South Korean brokerages are urging caution on the country’s two leading chipmakers, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, telling investors to refrain from additional buying. The view is based on expectations that memory-chip prices are unlikely to rise much further for now, while higher interest rates and other macro pressures keep the shares locked in a range.

Lee Min-hee, an analyst at BNK Investment & Securities, wrote on Sept. 16 that past cycles of oversupply and shortage were always driven by inaccurate demand forecasts rather than supply itself. With the macro environment growing more uncertain and memory prices struggling to move higher, demand elasticity is now weakening, he said.

Chip stocks have been rebounding gradually since becoming oversold in July, supported by valuations, expectations for large-scale shareholder returns and solid AI server shipments. Even so, Lee said the upside for share prices will remain limited as demand elasticity weakens after memory costs hit their ceiling and interest rates continue to rise.

Lee downgraded Samsung Electronics to Hold from Buy and maintained a Hold rating on SK Hynix, effectively advising investors not to add to positions.

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have mostly traded in a range since last month. While the dominant view is that fundamentals, including resilient earnings, remain intact, renewed fighting in the Middle East, higher oil prices and worries about additional rate increases have weighed on the stocks.

As of 2:20 p.m. on Sept. 16, Samsung Electronics was up 1.61% from the previous session and SK Hynix had risen 2.84%. Samsung Electronics has been moving in a 230,000 won to 274,500 won range, while SK Hynix has mostly traded between 1.65 million won and 1.85 million won, excluding a drop of more than 10% in early August.

A gap in demand has been a key reason the two stocks remain stuck in a range.

According to the Korea Exchange, retail investors were net sellers of about 6.005 trillion won of SK Hynix in the month from Aug. 15 to Sept. 15. That was the largest net sale by individual investors over the period. Samsung Electronics followed, with net selling of about 1.5481 trillion won.

Foreign investors moved the same way. Over the same period, they were net sellers of about 10.0953 trillion won of SK Hynix, the biggest sale among all stocks, and about 4.6895 trillion won of Samsung Electronics, putting it near the top of the list as well.

Institutions also sold both names during the period, with net sales of 4.443 trillion won in SK Hynix and 2.2891 trillion won in Samsung Electronics. That made SK Hynix the most-sold stock for each major investor group: retail, foreign and institutional.

In effect, SK Hynix was the stock most heavily sold over the past month by the Korean market’s three main investor groups. Most of the shares they offloaded were absorbed by other corporations, which are believed to be the entities carrying out SK Hynix share buybacks.

As sharp price swings have faded and the stocks have settled into range-bound trading, frustration among retail investors has grown. On online stock forums for Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, posters wrote comments such as: "At least when it falls, bargain buyers step in, but near the bottom of this range it’s not a good spot to buy," "With earnings like this, it’s a mystery the stock isn’t rising," and "More shareholder returns are needed."

Still, many analysts argue current prices remain attractive from a valuation standpoint, given expectations for a memory-chip shortage next year.

Intel Chief Executive Officer Lip-Bu Tan said at the AI Infrastructure Summit 2026 in Santa Clara, California, on Sept. 16 that he had expected memory to become a major bottleneck last year and that it had. He added that the problem would become even more severe next year. "It is hard to sustain a situation where 70% to 80% of costs have to be spent on memory," he said.

Ryu Hyung-geun, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said some customers are projecting demand for more than 40 billion gigabytes of high-bandwidth memory by 2028, underscoring how strong demand has become. He added that some customers have started asking during long-term contract talks for contract periods to be extended to more than five years. At current levels, the sector offers more reward than risk, he said.

Noh Jung-dong, Hankyung.com reporter dong2@hankyung.com