The U.S. stock market's VIX volatility index surged 14.17% in a single day, pushing cryptocurrency markets back into the "extreme fear" zone.

According to Bitget data, South Korea’s KOSPI index has turned positive after earlier falling more than 5%. Samsung Electronics rose over 3%, while SK Hynix’s decline narrowed to 0.8%.

According to Bitget data, SK Hynix has reversed its earlier decline, now trading 0.7% higher after falling more than 8% earlier.

According to South Korean media outlet ZDNET, SK Hynix has started procuring equipment for the first-phase cleanroom of Y1, the first wafer plant of its Yongin semiconductor cluster. The initial plan is to add 20,000 units of monthly production capacity for 1c DRAM. The Y1 plant was originally scheduled to launch its first-phase cleanroom in May 2027, but has now been brought forward to February 2027. The company plans to kick off construction of a pilot production line at that time, followed by formal equipment installation from March to April, to expand monthly production capacity by 20,000 units. This production line will mainly manufacture sixth-generation 10-nanometer 1c DRAM, which can be used in AI-related high-value-added DDR and LPDDR products, and is slated for application in HBM4E, which is set to commercialize as early as 2027. To accelerate equipment introduction, SK Hynix has also advanced equipment price contract negotiations—usually held at the end of the year—to the start of the third quarter. SK Hynix is also simultaneously speeding up the overall construction progress of the Yongin semiconductor cluster. The project has a total investment of approximately 600 trillion won, and consists of four wafer plants; the completion target for the fourth wafer plant has been moved up from 2045 to 2033. The second and third phases of Y1's cleanrooms are expected to begin construction in the second half of this year.

According to Farside Investors' monitoring, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw a net outflow of $424.7 million yesterday. IBIT recorded a net outflow of $185.5 million, while FBTC posted a net outflow of $245.6 million. U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs had a net outflow of $15.4 million, all from FETH.

According to foreign media reports, after DeepSeek closed its latest financing round, founder Liang Wenfeng’s personal wealth has more than doubled, making him the richest founder of a global large AI model enterprise. Per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Liang’s current net worth stands at $36 billion, up from roughly $16.7 billion, surpassing Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei and OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman. This comparison only covers companies whose core business and majority revenue come directly from large AI models, excluding diversified tech giants such as Alibaba and Tencent, as well as AI industrial chain-related firms like data center operators and semiconductor companies. The vast majority of Liang’s wealth stems from his controlling stake in DeepSeek. In June this year, DeepSeek reportedly completed a 50 billion yuan financing round with a valuation exceeding 330 billion yuan, and Liang personally contributed 20 billion yuan. Per calculations by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, his shareholding has been diluted to approximately 78%. (Jinshi)

More than a dozen single-stock leveraged ETFs listed in South Korea at the end of May have seen sharp declines, with several products tracking Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix nearly halving in price. Among them, the "SAMSUNG KODEX SK Hynix Single-Stock Leveraged ETF" — which has an asset size of $3.4 billion — has fallen roughly 45% since its launch, with a drawdown of over 60% from its June peak. The total asset size of related products stands at around $3 billion. On Monday, SK Hynix recorded a historic 15% drop; on Tuesday, it fell more than 8% intraday, and the KOSPI index once tumbled 5% to below 6,500 points. Jung In Yun, CEO of Fibonacci Asset Management, noted that many retail investors view leveraged ETFs as long-term investment vehicles, and the steep declines have left them with significant losses, potentially weakening their willingness and ability to continue purchasing semiconductor stocks. South Korea’s top financial regulator expressed regret last month over approving the listing of such products, yet retail trading enthusiasm has not cooled notably. Over the past month, South Korean leveraged and inverse exchange-traded products have attracted a combined $3.8 billion in inflows, primarily directed toward single-stock products tracking SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics. Jung In Yun predicts regulators will likely tighten suitability requirements, risk disclosures and investor education, rather than imposing a full ban on the products. On the same day, the South Korean government raised its 2024 economic growth forecast from 2% to 3%, stating that AI chip demand will continue to offset some of the headwinds from Middle East conflicts, and projects this year’s current account surplus will hit a record $290 billion.