젠슨 황은 내년 칩 판매량이 두 배로 증가할 것으로 전망하며, 한국 칩 거대 기업들이 코스피 2.66% 상승을 주도하고 있다.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivered an upbeat forecast at a summit in the United Kingdom that chip sales would double next year, remarks that quickly ignited buying across global semiconductor markets. Speaking to media at an AI safety summit in Scotland on the 17th, Huang said: "I expect that next year the number of chips Nvidia sells will be double this year's. The reason is that AI is delivering tremendous value contributions across different industries and different economies." He emphasized that the current bottleneck is not demand, but rather Nvidia’s ability to produce the chips. The comments echoed warnings from Intel’s CEO regarding memory supply shortages, reinforcing market expectations for continued expansion in AI semiconductor demand.

South Korea’s stock market was the first to react. On Friday (the 18th), the KOSPI index surged 178.82 points, or 2.66%, to close at 6,894.23, briefly touching the 6,900 level intraday and posting its biggest single-day gain since September 7—the strongest performance among Asian markets. Chip heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK hynix led the advance, closing up 3.37% at ₩261,000 (approximately $190) and 6.42% to ₩1.857 million (approximately $1,300), respectively. SK hynix became the top performer among the 30 large-cap stocks on the KOSPI. Broader semiconductor and AI supply chain names followed, with SK Square (402340.KS) jumping 7.04% and Samsung Electro-Mechanics rising 4.36%. The electronics sector overall rallied 4.46%, the largest gain among the 19 major industry groups.

The return of foreign and institutional investors served as another major driver of the rebound. According to Korea Exchange data, foreign investors net bought ₩419.4 billion (approximately $302.5 million) in the KOSPI market, marking their first net buying activity in eight trading sessions. Institutional investors added an even larger ₩1.5079 trillion (approximately $1.1 billion). These two forces entering simultaneously offset retail selling pressure of as much as ₩3.5874 trillion (approximately $2.6 billion). KB Securities noted that Intel’s CEO’s forecast of memory supply shortages, combined with Huang’s remarks about chip sales doubling next year, jointly boosted demand expectations for memory semiconductors.

An improving macro environment provided a favorable backdrop for the rebound. International oil prices pulled back to around $104 per barrel, U.S. 10-year Treasury yields declined, and inflation concerns following the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes gradually subsided, prompting a clear recovery in risk appetite. All three major U.S. indices rebounded overnight, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surging 3.14%, Nvidia rising 2.54%, Micron jumping 5.50%, and SK hynix ADRs gaining 4.64%—a wave of positive sentiment that transmitted directly to Asian markets.

Analysts highlighted that AI’s development focus is rapidly shifting from graphics processing units (GPUs) to memory, positioning Samsung Electronics and SK hynix as the biggest beneficiaries of what KB Securities termed the “Memory-Centric Era.” The brokerage also observed that the recovery in AI infrastructure investment expectations has lifted power equipment, cable, and optical communications-related stocks. Market stability was further supported by remarks from South Korean President Lee Jae-myung at a Middle East press conference on the same day. He stated that while multiple countries have deployed military assets near the Strait of Hormuz, South Korea will not send troops to intervene in Middle East conflicts and would at most consider minimal actions to protect economic interests and national security. Given South Korea’s heavy dependence on Middle East energy imports, this stance helped ease market concerns about potential supply disruptions.

Despite the bullish sentiment, structural bottlenecks in the supply chain have surfaced. South Korean media reported that AI-driven demand for chips and memory has surged, with lead times for core semiconductor equipment components generally extending by more than double. Some critical Japanese-made parts now require waits of up to 40 months, and even paying premiums cannot secure earlier delivery. Lead times for deposition equipment components have stretched from four months to 10 months, while South Korean-made packaging equipment components have extended from four months to over six months. These supply constraints could impact Samsung Electronics’ Pyeongtaek plant and SK hynix’s Yongin plant expansion plans.

Taiwan’s stock market was similarly driven by the theme. The TAIEX closed up 892.75 points, or 1.93%, at 47,180.75, with trading volume expanding to approximately NT$1.08 trillion (approximately $33.9 billion). TSMC (2330.TW) rose NT$35, or 1.44%, to close at NT$2,460, serving as a key pillar in the market’s return above 47,000. United Microelectronics (2303.TW), buoyed by a strong ADR rally, impressive August revenue, and AI demand themes, surged 5.76% on heavy volume. MediaTek (2454.TW) rose 4.66%, and ASE Technology Holding (3711.TW) gained 3.9%.

The memory sector performed particularly well. Nanya Technology (2408.TW) surged 7.58%, Winbond Electronics (2344.TW) rose 5.59%, Phison Electronics (8299.TW) jumped more than 8%, and Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing (6770.TW) and Macronix International (2337.TW) also advanced. Market participants noted that the FTSE Taiwan Index Series underwent its quarterly rebalancing after the close on the 18th, generating substantial passive fund buying in the final minutes that further amplified gains in memory and large-cap stocks.

The Taishin Taiwan IC Design ETF (00947.TW) rose more than 3% intraday, leading the six Taiwan-listed semiconductor ETFs, with trading volume exceeding 3,000 lots. ETF manager Huang Yu-min noted that over the past three years, Taiwan’s fourth-quarter peak season rally has typically bottomed in September and begun rising in October. With the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes now settled and the launch of next-generation AI models scheduled for early September, the global AI computing arms race continues to intensify, and Taiwanese semiconductor stocks playing a critical supply role will be the biggest beneficiaries. Huang further analyzed that cloud and AI infrastructure expansion is driving enterprise storage demand. As AI moves from cloud to edge devices, it will generate even larger data volumes, and with enterprises demanding ever-higher memory capacity and speed for data privacy protection, the memory shortage is unlikely to ease in the short term. He believes that entering the AGI era, the proliferation of AI agents and upgrades to AI data center infrastructure will further elevate the importance of Taiwan’s memory supply chain, with related companies poised to benefit from four fundamental tailwinds: rapidly expanding AI demand, significantly increased capital expenditure, iterative technological innovation, and industry disruption and upgrading.

From a fund flow perspective, Taiwan’s electronics sub-index surged 2.44% on the 18th, the TPEx index jumped 3.64%, while the financial sub-index fell 0.96%, indicating capital was clearly rotating back into semiconductors and small-to-mid-cap electronics stocks. On the main board, 831 stocks rose and 267 fell, with 32 hitting limit-up and none limit-down—a decidedly bullish market tone.

Other Asian markets also closed higher. The Nikkei 225 rose 1.38%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.60%, and the Shanghai Composite advanced 0.94%. In Japan, markets widely expect the Bank of Japan to raise its policy rate from 1% to 1.25% at the meeting concluding Friday, which would mark the second hike in three months and the fastest tightening pace since 1990. MUFG analysts noted that with markets already pricing in a cut