Retail net purchases reach 593.3 billion won since January; year-to-date return stands at 88.30%
Hanwha Asset Management's PLUS Global HBM Semiconductor ETF has topped retail net purchases among Korea-listed overseas semiconductor ETFs this year. Analysts say the fund's strategy of concentrating on three global memory chip leaders has drawn steady inflows from retail investors, buoyed by expectations of an industry recovery driven by the spread of AI.
According to Hanwha Asset Management, retail net purchases of the PLUS Global HBM Semiconductor ETF reached 593.3 billion won ($448 million) as of Monday, measured from the start of the year. The fund's year-to-date return of 88.30 percent placed it 10th among all Korea-listed ETFs, including leveraged and inverse products. Returns over the past three years, two years and one year stand at 526.75 percent, 368.22 percent and 135.01 percent, respectively.
The ETF focuses its core holdings on three global memory chipmakers — Micron, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix — which together account for roughly 77 percent of the fund's portfolio. Unlike other semiconductor ETFs that concentrate on domestic names such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, this fund also includes a US memory chipmaker, diversifying both its holdings and its market exposure.
At its regular rebalancing in May, the fund added SanDisk, a leading NAND flash chipmaker, along with semiconductor testing and back-end equipment makers Teradyne and Techwing. The move broadened the fund's investment scope from memory chips — including HBM, DRAM and NAND flash — to companies that supply related equipment.
Expectations of a memory chip industry recovery are also underpinning investment demand. SK hynix and Samsung Electronics are set to report their third-quarter earnings Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, with the market anticipating record results from both companies. Growing memory demand tied to the expansion of AI services, combined with lingering supply shortage concerns, has reinforced the earnings improvement outlook across the sector.
"Topping retail net purchases this year shows that investors view memory chips not as a short-term theme but as a structural beneficiary of AI infrastructure growth," said Keum Jeong-seop, head of the ETF business division at Hanwha Asset Management. "The structural growth of memory chips driven by AI expansion is now entering full swing."
kacew@heraldcorp.com
