South Korean Chip Stocks Climb on Renewed Demand Optimism

By Kwanwoo Jun

South Korean semiconductor shares rose amid renewed optimism about chip demand, after early enthusiasm for Meta Platforms' new artificial-intelligence product sent global AI stocks higher.

Shares of SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, both of which supply high-bandwidth memory to global AI chip makers, rose as much as 3.6% and 3.5%, respectively, in Tuesday morning trading, outperforming the benchmark Kospi's 1.6% gain.

The advance came as Meta's stock surged 11% overnight. Investors piled into shares of the Facebook parent after its recently released AI agent, called Muse, became the most-downloaded free application in the U.S. Apple App Store.

Meta launched Muse two weeks ago as a virtual personal assistant that can book appointments and trips, place orders, and send emails and messages on behalf of users. The AI agent now ranks ahead of OpenAI's ChatGPT, according to data from Sensor Tower.

The early signs of success for Meta's Muse revived Wall Street's optimism over chip demand, lifting shares of AI-chip developers such as Advanced Micro Devices and Arm Holdings on Monday, as investors reassessed the potential growth of central processing units.

Overnight, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index, one of the most widely watched benchmarks for the global semiconductor industry, climbed 4.3%, its strongest daily gain since Aug. 4.

Write to Kwanwoo Jun at kwanwoo.jun@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 22, 2026 00:01 ET (04:01 GMT)