AI Chip Maker Montage Extends Losses After South Korean Raid

By Sherry Qin

Montage Technology extended losses, after the Chinese artificial-intelligence chip maker confirmed that South Korean prosecutors raided its office over a possible violation of competition laws.

The company's Hong Kong-listed shares were down 9.55% in early afternoon trading, after plunging 23% Thursday following a South Korean media report on the raid. Montage's Shanghai-listed shares shed 9.6% after falling 16% a day earlier.

South Korean authorities, which suspect Montage of engaging in price-fixing for semiconductor components, raided the company's Korean office on Wednesday, local media reported Thursday.

South Korea accounted for more than half of Montage's revenue in 2025. The company confirmed the raid in a filing to Hong Kong's stock exchange early Friday. It said that it has been cooperating with authorities, none of its employees has been charged with any wrongdoing, and its operations weren't affected.

Shanghai-based Montage, which was founded in 2004, specializes in memory interface chips that help AI computers speed up data transfers between processors and memory chips.

The broad chip-stock selloff in Asia on Friday amid investor anxiety over high levels of AI investment also weighed on Montage's shares. Analysts have identified Montage as one of the few Chinese companies that are direct beneficiaries of global AI capital spending with a global customer base.

In a move to shore up investors' confidence, Montage gave an upbeat earnings forecast and disclosed plans to buy back shares. It said it expects first-half net profit to rise as much as 81% from a year earlier, forecasting net profit of between 1.9 billion yuan and 2.1 billion yuan, equivalent to $280.5 million and $310.0 million.

Montage's chairman proposed buying back between 300 million yuan and 600 million yuan of the company's onshore stock using the company's funds.

Citi analysts reckon that while the continuing investigation could cause further share-price volatility, its strong guidance and share repurchase plan are likely to help stabilize the stock.

Write to Sherry Qin at sherry.qin@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 17, 2026 01:35 ET (05:35 GMT)