Samsung, SK Hynix shares diverge ahead of Jensen Huang keynote at GTC Taipei

Shares of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix moved in opposite directions in early trading Sunday as investors positioned ahead of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's keynote address. Samsung Electronics hit a fresh intraday high while SK Hynix, which had surged for six consecutive trading sessions, paused to consolidate.

Samsung Electronics extended its early gains to as much as 7 percent, setting a new intraday record, according to Korea Exchange data. The advance narrowed the performance gap between the two chipmakers, as SK Hynix hovered near flat in early trade. The previous week, both stocks outpaced the broader market, though SK Hynix led — the Kospi rose 8.0 percent, Samsung Electronics gained 8.4 percent, and SK Hynix surged 20.2 percent.

This week, the market is watching whether SK Hynix can extend its rally and whether Samsung Electronics can close the gap. The key events driving both stocks are Nvidia GTC Taipei and Computex 2026, both held in Taipei, Taiwan.

Nvidia is holding Jensen Huang's keynote at GTC Taipei on Sunday. GTC Taipei runs through Wednesday, while Computex 2026 — Asia's largest IT trade show — opens Monday and runs through Thursday. Microsoft Build, running Monday through Tuesday, is expected to feature announcements on agentic AI and the AI software ecosystem.

Also in focus at GTC Taipei are Nvidia's Arm-based integrated chips for AI PCs, the N1 and N1X — semiconductors that combine a CPU, GPU and AI processing functions on a single chip for Windows PCs. Updates on Vera Rubin, Nvidia's next-generation AI server platform, are another item the market is watching closely.

Brokerages see the events as an opportunity to validate the case for further gains in semiconductor stocks. SK Securities set a target price of 610,000 won (about $406) for Samsung Electronics and 4 million won (about $2,660) for SK Hynix on Sunday. The previous week, KB Securities raised its Samsung Electronics target from 450,000 won (about $299) to 530,000 won (about $353), and lifted its SK Hynix target from 3 million won (about $2,000) to 3.8 million won (about $2,530). Mirae Asset Securities also raised its Samsung Electronics target from 480,000 won (about $319) to 550,000 won (about $366), and its SK Hynix target from 3.2 million won (about $2,130) to 3.8 million won (about $2,530).

"Nvidia GTC, running concurrently with Computex 2026 in Taiwan, is one of the biggest AI tech events of the year," said Kim Rok-ho, an analyst at Hana Securities. "Jensen Huang's keynote on Sunday will draw the most attention." He added that the importance of memory chips is expected to be reaffirmed at the event, which should have a positive effect on the share prices of Korean chipmakers.

Kim Dong-won, head of research at KB Securities, said Jensen Huang's expected visit to South Korea this week — his first in seven months — signals the country's growing strategic importance to Nvidia. "Securing HBM supply is one of the core purposes of this visit," he said. "As HBM4 integration begins with the Vera Rubin platform, dependence on Korean suppliers will only deepen. We expect Nvidia to source more than 80 percent of its total HBM4 demand from SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics."

Expectations surrounding Samsung Electronics have also grown more concrete. Kim noted that Samsung Electronics supplied samples of HBM4E 12-layer chips to global customers on May 29 — the first company in the world to do so, just ahead of Huang's visit — underscoring its leverage in next-generation accelerator negotiations. HBM4E is an enhanced version of HBM4, the next-generation high-bandwidth memory chip. Kim added that cooperation with Samsung Electronics' foundry on leading-edge processes — as a way to reduce Nvidia's heavy reliance on TSMC of Taiwan — could also come up as a longer-term agenda item.

Over the medium to long term, the prospect of SK Hynix tapping US equity markets continues to generate investor interest. "SK Hynix disclosed on March 24 that it had confidentially submitted a registration statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission for an ADR listing," said Kim Young-geon, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities. "We expect the ADR listing to serve as a momentum driver for the share price." An American depositary receipt, or ADR, is a certificate that allows shares of a foreign company to be traded on US stock exchanges.

"Inclusion in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index would raise the prospect of a higher valuation and attract passive fund inflows," Kim said. "If the listing is completed this year, inclusion in the index's September 2027 regular rebalancing would be a realistic expectation."