SEOUL: South Korean chipmakers rallied on Friday as markets reopened following a period of local holiday, with gains fuelled by renewed optimism around artificial intelligence (AI).
Samsung Electronics rose as much as 5.96% to its highest since January 11, 2021 and SK Hynix jumped 11.1% to a record high.
Both firms clinched a deal with OpenAI earlier this month to support the ChatGPT maker’s expansive Stargate AI data centre project.
Samsung’s rally was further driven by optimism around AMD’s multi-year deal on Monday to supply chips to OpenAI, said Ryu Young-ho, a senior analyst at NH Investment & Securities.
AMD is one of Samsung’s biggest customers for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, he added.
SK Hynix gained momentum from positive AI sentiment over the local holiday period from October 3-9, as investors continued to view the company as the leading supplier of HBM and a key beneficiary of surging AI-related demand, Ryu said.
Meanwhile, chip heavyweights powered the benchmark KOSPI stock index to an all-time high in a post-holiday rally- REUTERS
