South Korea overtakes India as 6th-biggest stock market on semiconductors
South Korea just edged past India to become the world's sixth-biggest stock market, all thanks to a massive surge in its semiconductor industry.
The KOSPI index hit a record high this week, up 220% in just one year.
Most of this growth comes from Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, whose AI chip businesses are on fire.
SK Hynix joins trillion-dollar club
SK Hynix joined the elite trillion-dollar club alongside Samsung and Taiwan's TSMC after its share price jumped an incredible 1,000% over the past year (Samsung's rose 500%).
The reason? Explosive demand for high-powered chips used in AI tools like ChatGPT.
Analysts say investors are shifting their focus from software to companies building the tech behind AI, but they also warn that relying so heavily on global AI demand could be risky if things slow down.