SK Hynix vicino a $1 trillion: l'hai perso? Un ETF per esporsi

South Korean semiconductor giant SK Hynix is rapidly approaching a 1 bilioni USD (circa 872,3 miliardi €) market valuation, underscoring how the global artificial intelligence boom is reshaping financial markets and placing South Korea at the center of the semiconductor supply chain.

Le azioni della società sono salite di oltre il 200% quest'anno, dopo un balzo del 274% nel 2025, trainate da una domanda esplosiva di chip di memoria utilizzati in server per AI, infrastrutture cloud e sistemi di calcolo avanzato.

Valued at less than 100 miliardi USD (circa 87,2 miliardi €) just 16 months ago, SK Hynix ended Thursday with a market capitalization of roughly 942 miliardi USD (circa 821,7 miliardi €), putting it within reach of joining the world’s trillion-dollar corporate club.

Nell'ultimo anno il titolo è salito di oltre l'850%.

The rally comes only weeks after Samsung Electronics crossed the trillion-dollar threshold, raising the prospect of South Korea becoming the first country outside the United States to host more than one company valued above 1 bilioni USD (circa 872,3 miliardi €).

Asia’s largest listed company by market value remains TSMC, which is worth more than 1,8 bilioni USD (circa 1,6 bilioni €).

Il boom dell'AI spinge le azioni coreane

L'entusiasmo intorno ai titoli di semiconduttori legati all'AI ha alimentato un rally storico sull'intero mercato azionario sudcoreano.

The benchmark KOSPI rose 1.75% on Thursday to close at 7,981.41.

The index has surged more than 86% this year after climbing 75% in 2025, marking its strongest multi-year performance since 1999.

KB Securities recently raised its year-end target for the KOSPI by 40% to 10,500 points, reflecting growing confidence that AI-driven spending will continue boosting corporate earnings.

Le azioni hanno registrato rialzi diffusi giovedì, mentre gli investitori bilanciavano l'ottimismo sulla domanda legata all'AI con la cautela in vista di un vertice molto osservato tra il presidente USA Donald Trump e il presidente cinese Xi Jinping a Pechino.

Trump ha ricevuto un'accoglienza cerimoniale nella Great Hall of the People di Pechino, mentre i due leader hanno avviato colloqui che dovrebbero concentrarsi su tensioni commerciali, Taiwan e il conflitto in corso che riguarda l'Iran.

Nonostante l'incertezza geopolitica, l'appetito degli investitori per i titoli dei produttori di chip è rimasto solido, dato che gli operatori continuano a segnalare utili record legati alla spesa per infrastrutture AI.

I guadagni hanno messo in evidenza il ruolo sempre più strategico dei produttori di chip di memoria rispetto ad alcune società della Silicon Valley, i cui massicci impegni in AI hanno reso la profittabilità meno prevedibile.

Gli analisti diventano più rialzisti su SK Hynix

Gli analisti affermano che i chip di memoria stanno diventando uno dei componenti più critici dell'economia dell'AI, soprattutto man mano che i carichi di lavoro di inference diventano più esigenti.

"Amid the rapid growth of AI inference, the global market is reassessing the value of memory semiconductors," Daishin Securities analyst Ryu Hyung-keun said Monday.

"This is not a one-off event, but the beginning of a new era," Ryu said.

He raised his target price on SK Hynix shares by 47% to 2,500,000 won, equivalent to roughly $1,710.

The stock recently traded 12% higher at 1,887,000 won.

I gestori di fondi vedono sempre più la Corea del Sud come uno dei principali beneficiari del riposizionamento delle catene di fornitura e dell'aumento delle tensioni geopolitiche.

Eduardo Marques, founder and chief investment officer at Pertento Partners, said Korean semiconductor shares still trade at relatively attractive valuations despite their massive rally.

"Korea stands out as the place with more value," Marques said during a panel discussion at the Sohn Investment Conference earlier this week.

Marques noted that SK Hynix trades at roughly six times forward earnings, compared with around 10 times for rival Micron Technology.

He also suggested investors could gain indirect exposure to the AI boom through SK Square, the parent company of SK Hynix, which he said trades at a 47% discount to the chipmaker.

Marques described SK Hynix as likely to remain “a cash gusher” over the next several years as AI-related demand continues expanding.

Le prospettive migliorano in vista dei risultati del Q2

Le banche d'investimento sono diventate sempre più ottimiste sulle prospettive di utili di SK Hynix, mentre i prezzi della memoria continuano a salire.

HSBC Global Research analyst Ricky Seo said the company is likely to deliver stronger-than-expected second-quarter results driven by higher pricing for DRAM chips.

Seo expects average selling prices for SK Hynix’s DRAM products to rise 40% during the April-to-June quarter, significantly above his previous estimate of 28%.

The increase is being driven by higher prices for chips used in data servers, smartphones and personal computers, as well as recovering demand for HBM3E chips used in AI applications.

Seo raised his operating profit forecast for SK Hynix by 14% to 65 trillion won for the second quarter and increased his 2026 operating profit estimate by 13% to 265 trillion won.

La società ha aumentato gli investimenti sia a livello domestico che internazionale, in particolare negli Stati Uniti, per far fronte alla crescente domanda di memoria legata all'AI.

Morningstar analyst Jing Jie Yu said prices for DRAM and NAND memory chips could peak in 2027 as demand continues outpacing supply.

Morningstar expects SK Hynix’s operating margin to rise to 75.7% in 2026 and 77.3% in 2027, compared with 48.6% in 2025.

The research firm also forecasts the company’s dividend payout increasing sharply to 15,000 won per share in 2026 and 16,000 won in 2027 from 3,000 won in 2025.

Hai perso il rally di SK Hynix? Questo ETF è la tua ancora

Il rally delle azioni legate alla memoria AI ha alimentato anche uno dei lanci di ETF di maggior successo nella storia.

The Roundhill Memory ETF, which trades under the ticker DRAM, has accumulated more than 6 miliardi USD (circa 5,2 miliardi €) in assets since launching on April 2.

Secondo i dati di mercato, il fondo ha superato persino la crescita rapida registrata al lancio dell'iShares Bitcoin Trust di BlackRock nel 2024.

The ETF’s share price has nearly doubled since launch as investors seek broader exposure to memory-chip manufacturers including SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics, Micron and SanDisk.

Gli analisti di mercato affermano che il fondo è diventato popolare in parte perché molti ETF tradizionali sui semiconduttori non offrono un'esposizione significativa ai leader asiatici della memoria.

“A lot of investors view this as a proxy for alluring but otherwise hard-to-access Korean stocks,” Steve Sosnick, market strategist at Interactive Brokers, said in a Reuters report.

Vanda Research estimated that retail investors bought 55 milioni USD (circa 48 milioni €) worth of the ETF on Monday alone, marking the largest daily inflow from individual investors since its launch.

The amount exceeded retail flows into individual AI-related stocks such as Nvidia as investors increasingly favored diversified semiconductor exposure.

"One thing I really like about the fund's composition is that investors also gain global exposure to this segment of the AI chip realm," Adam Spatacco, contributing technology analyst at The Motley Fool, wrote earlier this week.

"With an expense ratio hovering near 0.65% and a share price of about $50, the fund is reasonably priced for the AI memory sector exposure. And given that it is a passive ETF, it undercuts the cost and time of constantly rebalancing an individual portfolio," he added.

Analysts also say SK Hynix could benefit in the short term from labor tensions at Samsung Electronics.