Jensen Huang Says AI Stocks Are ‘Very Cheap’ as Samsung, SK Hynix Cut Early Losses

Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. tumbled in early trading on June 8, shaking South Korea’s stock market as a rout in U.S. semiconductor shares spilled over into Seoul. Samsung briefly fell below 300,000 won, while SK Hynix dropped under 2 million won. Both later trimmed losses as the market steadied after a circuit breaker was triggered.

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, slipping below the 300,000-won level. It dropped as low as 292,500 won during the session.

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

The selloff was driven by a correction in U.S. chip stocks. On June 5, technology shares broadly weakened after disappointing guidance from Broadcom Inc. combined with pressure from rising interest rates following stronger-than-expected U.S. May employment data.

Micron Technology Inc. sank 13.2%, SanDisk Corp. lost 11.4% and Nvidia Corp. fell 6.2%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped 10.2%. Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, said the Kospi would remain in a period of heightened volatility this week after Friday’s sharp drop in U.S. stocks.

Still, some investors do not view the pullback as evidence of worsening semiconductor fundamentals. U.S. and South Korean chip shares had rallied sharply in a short period on expectations for stronger artificial intelligence demand and improving memory-market conditions. 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, Samsung rose 59.4%, SK Hynix jumped 78.6% and the semiconductor sector advanced 66.3% over the same period, while the Kospi gained 30.9%.

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

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

Huang said AI demand will keep growing and GPUs alone will not be enough. Nvidia will collaborate in a way that produces Nvidia chips at SK Hynix fabs and uses them at SK Telecom, he said.

He described the agreement as a multiyear contract that runs longer than two years and could be extended. Nvidia already buys several billion 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-ju, Hankyung.com reporter, qurasoha@hankyung.com