Samsung jumps 5% after 10% plunge as KOSPI rebounds

Samsung Electronics rose about 5% in Seoul on Tuesday after a 10.2% drop on Monday, as buyers returned to chip stocks following a broad selloff in the market.

South Korea’s KOSPI fell 8.3% to 7,484.41 on Monday, its largest one-day decline since March 4, and triggered a market-wide circuit breaker shortly after the open. The selloff followed stronger-than-expected US payrolls data and sharp losses in global chip shares. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index had fallen about 10% in the prior session.

Samsung and SK Hynix account for more than half of the KOSPI’s market value. Both stocks moved sharply on Monday: Samsung declined 10.2% and SK Hynix fell 7.7%. The circuit breaker activation was the third this year and the ninth in the index’s history.

Samsung reported first-quarter revenue of 133.9 trillion won and operating profit of 57.2 trillion won, an eightfold increase from a year earlier. The company’s semiconductor division recorded operating profit of 53.7 trillion won in the quarter. In late May Samsung said it had begun shipping samples of 12-layer HBM4E memory chips to major customers for next-generation AI workloads. Han Ji-young of Kiwoom Securities noted that earnings momentum for semiconductor firms remains strong even as volatility could continue.

Technical strategists had warned that a rapid downside reversal was possible in chip-heavy markets. Jonathan Krinsky of BTIG previously highlighted the risk that extended rallies can unwind quickly when sentiment shifts. Broadcom’s results and renewed rate concerns provided triggers that accelerated selling and forced intervention via circuit breakers.

Trading on Tuesday showed partial stabilization as Asian chip names drew buying after markets steadied elsewhere. Analysts expect higher volatility to continue while markets process quarterly reports, macroeconomic data and regional geopolitical developments. Supply for high-bandwidth memory is limited and data-center demand for AI hardware has increased, factors market participants cite when discussing the sector’s outlook.

The KOSPI’s heavy weighting in semiconductors has made the benchmark sensitive to large moves in a small number of stocks. Investor interest in AI-related memory and chips has driven inflows into the sector over the past year and contributed to higher valuations that some strategists have described as vulnerable to profit-taking.