Samsung, SK Hynix slide despite new chip investment plans; Battery shares soar - KED Global

The South Korean semiconductor industry faces a complex landscape despite major chip cluster investments by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. While these companies announced $500 billion projects to b... Read original →

South Korea’s $500B chip cluster push by Samsung and SK Hynix reveals strategic anxiety over access to advanced equipment, not just ambition. With U.S. export controls tightening and ASML’s EUV shipments constrained, Korea’s logic roadmap is effectively stalled—forcing a pivot toward mature nodes and HBM niches. This accelerates domestic sourcing of materials and packaging tools but inflates capex without near-term ROI. Meanwhile, surging battery stocks signal capital flight from low-turnover wafer fabs to high-growth energy storage, reflecting deep skepticism on semiconductor recovery timing. TSMC (Taiwan, China) and Intel will exploit this gap, especially in AI foundry services. If Korea fails to bypass equipment bans or scale Chiplet-based heterogeneous integration within 18 months, its global share will erode further—making EV-grade batteries and automotive semiconductors SK Group’s real growth engine.