The AI boom ran through Japan and South Korea's stock markets in the first half of the year, with South Korean stocks doubling over the six-month period, and AI infrastructure is set to take priority in the second half.

South Korean and Japanese stock markets have officially wrapped up the first half of the year. Looking back, AI investment has been the undisputed hot theme. Memory chip stocks represented by Samsung and SK Hynix rose 180% and 310% respectively in H1; their large weight in South Korea’s stock market drove the KOSPI to a cumulative gain of around 100% in the first half, hitting multiple new periodic highs. On the other hand, driven by multiple factors including corporate reforms, AI and semiconductor industry chain prosperity, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index has gained roughly 40% year-to-date, while the TOPIX (Tokyo Stock Price Index) rose about 17%. Tech stocks served as the main driving force: Advantest, a chip test equipment manufacturer, climbed around 65% year-to-date, and Tokyo Electron, a chip manufacturing equipment firm, surged over 120%. Notably, recent stock performance has seen AI upstream infrastructure equipment and raw materials—boosted by news of South Korea’s 800 trillion won production expansion—emerge strongly. Looking ahead to H2, “AI infrastructure” may become the direction of stock rotation within the broader AI theme.