Semiconductor stocks surge on Wall Street tailwinds, with Samsung and SK hynix up around 2%

Samsung Electronics and SK hynix advanced around 2% in early trading Wednesday, riding a wave of strength in semiconductor stocks that swept through Wall Street overnight.

Samsung Electronics was trading up 2.71% at 284,000 won ($205) on the Kospi as of 9:11 a.m.

The stock opened 2.89% higher at 284,500 won and briefly touched 285,000 won, a gain of 3.07%, shortly after the open before trimming some of its advance.

SK hynix was up 1.88% at 1.87 million won at the same time. The chipmaker also briefly touched 1.9 million won — a rise of 3.26% — after the open before giving back some of its gains as it searched for direction.

The moves tracked an overnight rally in AI-related stocks in New York that spilled over into South Korea's large-cap semiconductor names.

The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite closed up 122.18 points, or 0.45%, at 27,244.28, setting a new all-time closing high.

Nvidia gained 0.66%, Micron rose 5.00% and SanDisk climbed 6.80%, helping push the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up 2.06%.

Analysts cited several drivers behind the rally: falling crude oil prices and government bond yields drawing in buyers, strong interest in Meta's AI agent Muse, and growing expectations for server DRAM demand.

SK hynix's American depositary receipts also closed up 3.45% at $195.37 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The ADRs were recently added to the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX), which tracks the NYSE Semiconductor Index (ICESEMI), marking a faster inclusion in major semiconductor indexes than the market had anticipated.

The S&P 500, however, was nearly flat, slipping 0.06 points to 7,764.64, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 185.14 points, or 0.36%, to close at 51,863.69.

As of the same time Wednesday, foreign and institutional investors were net buyers on the Kospi, purchasing 172.5 billion won and 145.1 billion won worth of shares, respectively, while retail investors were net sellers at 357.4 billion won.

Within the Kospi's electrical and electronics sector — which includes Samsung Electronics and SK hynix — foreign and institutional investors were net sellers of 202.3 billion won and 120.7 billion won, respectively, while retail investors were net buyers of 365.7 billion won.

With buybacks under way at both Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, other corporate investors were net buyers of 42.7 billion won in the Kospi's electrical and electronics sector.

As of 9:14 a.m. Wednesday, the Kospi stood at 7,124.77, up 106.86 points, or 1.52%, from Tuesday's close. The index had opened up 136.08 points, or 1.94%, at 7,153.99 and has held gains of more than 1 percent since the open.