Samsung and – Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix shares sank sharply Thursday as Asia’s tech selloff deepened after a weak Nasdaq session, dragging down South Korea’s Kospi. The drop wiped out billions in market value, even as SK Hynix’s CEO outlined a major domestic investme
By the time trading opened, the damage was already visible in the numbers.
Samsung Electronics fell sharply and SK Hynix led the slide even more aggressively. Samsung shares were down 9.06% to 286,000, while SK Hynix dropped 14.57% to 2,187,000 to finish the session well below the previous close. At the open. SK Hynix had been down over 9%. with Samsung down more than 7%. as the tech-heavy selloff that started overseas quickly found its way into South Korea.
The moves weren’t confined to two stocks. Together. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix account for around half of the Kospi’s total weight—up from around just a quarter at the end of last year—meaning their swings pull the broader index with them. When the Nasdaq Composite slumped overnight, investors dumped chip exposure across the region, and South Korea’s benchmark followed.
The selloff spread beyond the peninsula as well. Hong Kong-listed semiconductor shares were hit broadly: Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation fell more than 11%. Hua Hong Grace dropped 14%. and Knowledge Atlas Technology—linked to Chinese AI model developer Zhipu—plunged more than 17%. Shanghai Iluvatar CoreX Semiconductor was down nearly 18% in the same regional move.
In South Korea, the pressure extended to SK’s biggest shareholder, SK Square. SK Square shares fell 13.2% to 1,525,000, moving in step with the wider semiconductor decline.
The backdrop for the day’s losses was a messy start to July for technology markets in the United States. On Wednesday’s session on Wall Street, Micron Technology shares dived more than 10%, despite having posted a 260% gain year-to-date. Sandisk also shed over 10% overnight. Other mega-cap tech names—Nvidia and Broadcom among them—fell between 1% and 2% as the broader tech selloff took hold.
Through all of that, the irony was hard to miss: SK Hynix’s leadership was still talking expansion.
Earlier Thursday. SK Hynix Chief Executive Officer Kwak Noh-jung said the company plans to invest 100 trillion Korean won (about $64.37 billion) in South Korea. The plan includes the start of construction for its M17 fabrication plant next year. with operations targeted for the first half of 2029 in the company’s central Chungcheong region.
The investment is split across two facilities. Of the 100 trillion won. SK Hynix will allocate 80 trillion won to the M17 chip manufacturing plant to produce NAND flash memory used in storage devices. It will also put 20 trillion won into the P&T7 facility to expand technology for combining and assembling advanced chips.
Kwak said the expansion is aimed at meeting soaring demand for HBM servers and DRAM. as well as enterprise SSDs and NAND. as AI services take off. He also linked the plan to SK Group’s wider AI effort. saying SK Group plans to expand AI data center infrastructure nationwide alongside its semiconductor production hubs.
“We plan to build AI data centers across the country in phases, starting with an initial capacity of 5 gigawatts (GW) and eventually scaling up to 15 GW,” the CEO explained during a public briefing in Asan, a city south of Seoul.
The timing is striking. Kwak’s remarks came just days after the South Korean government announced major investment initiatives on Monday aimed at supporting the country’s AI ambitions. The plan includes Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix investing a combined 800 trillion won as part of a national semiconductor ecosystem project.
Even with the sharp selloff, SK Hynix also pushed forward with plans to broaden its investor base. The company is set to begin trading American depositary receipts on the Nasdaq on July 10, expanding access for U.S. investors.
For now. the market response has been immediate and brutal: billions in market value have been wiped out as Asia’s chip sector takes the hit—an abrupt turn that leaves investors holding a familiar question. In a market that can move faster than any capex plan, how quickly will demand expectations translate back into prices?.
Samsung Electronics SK Hynix Kospi Nasdaq Composite chip selloff Micron Technology Sandisk Nvidia Broadcom HBM DRAM NAND flash enterprise SSDs AI data centers Kwak Noh-jung M17 P&T7 American depositary receipts