The South Korean stock market continues its impressive rally, with the benchmark KOSPI index soaring 44% so far this year, positioning it among the world's top-performing markets. Following five consecutive days of gains, the KOSPI broke through the 6000-point level for the first time on the 25th. Over the past 12 months, the index has surged by 130%. On the 27th, the KOSPI closed at 6244.13 points, declining 63.14 points from the previous session.

Analysts attribute the market's strength to Korean chip stocks benefiting from the global artificial intelligence boom. Demand from U.S. AI companies has driven robust growth in this sector. Massive spending by global tech giants on AI data centers has tightened supply and pushed up prices for major memory chips like DRAM and NAND, as well as high-bandwidth memory.

In this context, shares of Samsung Electronics, one of the world's largest memory chip makers, and SK Hynix, a key HBM supplier to NVIDIA, have climbed approximately 70% and 60% year-to-date, respectively. Daniel Kim, an analyst at Macquarie Equity Research, recently projected that net profits for SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics could grow about fourfold in 2026, driven by rising memory chip prices.

Prior to the latest surge in the KOSPI, U.S. stocks rebounded on the 24th after a major chip deal between Meta Platforms and AMD alleviated concerns about AI disrupting established tech firms.

Beyond AI, the sustained rise of the South Korean stock market since last year is fundamentally supported by the corporate governance reform agenda of the Lee Jae-myung administration. These reforms aim to enhance shareholder returns, improve corporate governance, and strengthen fiduciary responsibilities to increase board accountability.

Since taking office in June 2025, Lee has pledged to address the so-called "Korea discount," which refers to the lower valuation of domestic stocks compared to global peers. On the 25th, the ruling Democratic Party stated it is pushing for the passage of a revised Commercial Code in the National Assembly, which would require companies to cancel treasury shares within one year of repurchase—a move seen as the latest in a series of investor-friendly reforms.

Earlier this month, J.P. Morgan and Nomura raised their target levels for the KOSPI, citing government reforms and the AI-driven global semiconductor boom. Nomura forecasts the index will reach 8000 points in the first half of 2026, while J.P. Morgan predicts it will hit 7500 this year.

Marcus Weyerer, ETF Investment Strategist at Franklin Templeton, noted that for a full revaluation of Korean equities to occur, the current administration must maintain policy stability and the continuity of governance reforms, effectively translating "policy into action."

Additionally, the bull market in South Korea aligns with a global trend of investors diversifying away from U.S. dollar assets and the overall strength of Asia-Pacific equities. According to public data, as global capital flows into Asia-Pacific companies involved in AI infrastructure funding, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 6.3% this month, marking the best February performance since the index's inception in 1998. The index is also on track to outperform the S&P 500 for the third consecutive month. In contrast, U.S. stock index futures fell on the 26th, signaling potential further declines for Wall Street's benchmark indices.