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South Korea’s $60 Billion Semiconductor Exports to Drive the KOSPI’s Resurgence

South Korea’s economy has become intrinsically linked to the ongoing artificial intelligence boom.

With semiconductors amounting to around two-thirds of the Korea Composite Stock Price Index’s (KOSPI) market capitalization, South Korea’s economy has become intrinsically linked to the ongoing artificial intelligence boom. As exports reach record highs, optimism is growing among investors that the KOSPI can recapture momentum to close out 2026. 

Monthly export value for semiconductors surpassed $60 billion in September, breaking the $120 billion total export threshold for the first time in South Korea. The trend was driven by accelerating demand for AI and memory chips and is paving the way to $1 trillion in annual exports domestically. 

Critically, September’s export figures represented an 83.5 percent boost compared to the same period last year, while daily averages for the month reached a 105 percent year-over-year increase to $5.63 billion per day.  

The KOSPI responded to the news with a 2 percent jump. Despite a clear heavy reliance on semiconductor stocks following years of exponential growth, signs of strength in South Korea’s export activity are likely to instill a newfound confidence in the long-term outlook for the nation’s markets. 

South Korea’s strength in exports has helped to further deepen the growth of the KOSPI’s star players, Samsung and SK Hynix, which posted growth of 2.79 percent and 3.21 percent, respectively, after September’s figures were released by government sources. The two stocks now account for 66 percent of the entirety of the KOSPI index by market capitalization, underlining the nation’s reliance on the performance of the semiconductor giants. 

“There’s a clear case for South Korea as the most impacted market by the rise of artificial intelligence,” explained Vsevolod Smirnov, CMO at Just2Trade. “Since the launch of ChatGPT by OpenAI in November 2022 and the beginning of the GenAI boom, the KOSPI gained more than 270 percent to reach its 2026 peak, but the fact that the index has since tumbled 22.5 percent over the past three months is a warning sign of overreliance.” 

The KOSPI surpassed 9,000 in June, a historic high water mark for the index. But it didn’t remain there long. The KOSPI dropped back into the 8,000s just a week after hitting its all-time record, and spent most of July, August, and September in the 6,000-range.

However, Smirnov sees cause for optimism moving forward. “The good news is that export momentum means that these two semiconductor leaders aren’t selling magic beans. There’s a clear product and evident investor appetite,” he explained. “Both Samsung and SK Hynix have a relatively grounded trailing price-to-earnings ratio of around 10.9 and 7.4, respectively, indicating that both companies are well-positioned to fill their boots moving forward.” 

Analysts expect a........

© The Diplomat