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Google backs SK Hynix’s HBF: “AI needs larger memory capacity”
FMS 2026: A solution to the memory bottleneck in the AI inference era
“The smarter AI becomes, the more data it needs to remember.”
Google DeepMind has identified High Bandwidth Flash (HBF) as a key memory technology for the next generation of artificial intelligence.
As AI evolves beyond simply generating answers and moves toward interacting with users, maintaining context, and performing complex reasoning, traditional DRAM alone may no longer be sufficient due to limitations in capacity and cost.

HBF as a new memory layer for AI
At FMS (Future of Memory and Storage) 2026 in Santa Clara, California, a panel titled:
“Breaking the Memory Wall with High Bandwidth Flash”
brought together:
Xiaoyu Ma, researcher at Google DeepMind;
SK Hynix Vice President Im Eui-cheol;
SanDisk Vice President Rajiv Nagarivara.
The discussion focused on how memory architecture must evolve for future AI systems.

Google: AI inference semiconductor market could grow more than 10x
Google DeepMind expects the semiconductor market for AI inference to grow more than tenfold over the next decade.
The reason is that the AI industry is shifting from:
training AI models,
to
inference, where AI answers user queries, performs tasks, and interacts in real time.
This shift is creating massive demand for memory.
Key drivers include:
the rise of multimodal AI (text, images, video, voice);
the growing need to store conversation history;
the rapid expansion of KV cache data used by AI models.
AI therefore requires not only faster memory but also much larger memory capacity.

What is HBF?
High Bandwidth Flash (HBF) is positioned between:
HBM (High Bandwidth Memory), the ultra-fast memory used with AI GPUs;
SSDs, which provide high storage capacity.
HBF aims to:
deliver data quickly for AI workloads;
store significantly more data than HBM;
reduce overall AI infrastructure costs.
HBF is not designed to replace HBM. Instead, it acts as a complementary memory layer that efficiently manages frequently accessed AI data.

SK Hynix and SanDisk push for a new standard
SK Hynix and SanDisk announced the first HBF standard specification at FMS 2026.
This came about six months after the launch of the HBF consortium.
Google and AI semiconductor company Tenstorrent are also participating in the standardization effort.
SanDisk said HBF could:
improve AI response times by managing conversation history more efficiently;
reduce GPU workload;
retain data even when power is turned off because it is based on NAND Flash technology.

SK Hynix: Combining HBM and HBF for AI efficiency
SK Hynix explained that future AI systems will require joint optimization of:
memory;
software;
system architecture.
The expected structure:
HBM → handles ultra-fast computation workloads;
HBF → handles large-scale data storage and retrieval.
This combination could significantly improve AI infrastructure efficiency.

Why this matters
Industry observers believe the importance of this announcement is not only the HBF technology itself.
The key point is that Google, a major AI service developer, publicly acknowledged the need for a new memory architecture proposed by SK Hynix and SanDisk.
This could accelerate the development of a next-generation AI memory ecosystem.
FMS 2026, held from August 4–6 in California, is one of the world’s largest events for memory and storage technologies.
Major memory companies, including Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Micron Technology, and SanDisk, participated.

KOSPI Plunges Over 4.5%, Dragged Down by Another “Market Disruptor” on NXT
On August 6, South Korea’s KOSPI index fell below the 6,200 mark, dropping more than 4.5%. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix plunged 6.3% and 10.4% respectively from the previous day, dragging the whole index down, amid weak overnight US tech stocks and foreign selling.
The problem: pre-market opening on NXT
On the alternative exchange Nextrade (NXT), SK Hynix shares opened in freefall, down 29.98% (500,000 won), at 1,168,000 won. Notably, this floor-price (limit-down) opening price was set by the sale of just 11 shares.
This wasn’t the first time: the previous month, a single share had been enough to send SK Hynix to its limit-down opening price on the pre-market, contributing to a drop of over 16% during the regular session that day. On August 5, Samsung Electro-Mechanics and Alteogen experienced the opposite phenomenon (a single share pushing the stock to its limit-up price).
Why this happens
NXT’s opening price mechanism allows even a tiny trade (as little as 1 share) to immediately set the price if buy and sell orders match, especially when liquidity is thin in the early morning. By contrast, Korea’s main exchange (KRX) uses a batch auction system that aggregates orders before determining a single opening price — a structure that prevents this kind of manipulation via small volumes.
Market participants suspect deliberate manipulation rather than a simple order error — possibly designed to trigger forced liquidations on overseas crypto derivatives markets. During the previous month’s incident, a forced liquidation of $57.4 million (about 82.6 billion won) reportedly occurred on such platforms.
A fix is coming, but too slowly
NXT plans to introduce a static volatility interruption (VI) mechanism on the 14th of next month, which would block orders that deviate more than 10% from the reference price. But until then, more than a month remains during which this kind of manipulation stays possible — drawing criticism over how slowly the fix is being rolled out.
SK Hynix ultimately closed the day at 1,495,000 won, down 10.37%, in a session also weighed down by disappointing AMD earnings.

Despite the sharp declines of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix… Goldman Sachs maintains its KOSPI target at 12,000 points
Published August 6, 2026, 7:52 PM
As Samsung Electronics and SK hynix suffered sharp declines together, the KOSPI fell significantly on August 6. Weakness in AI- and semiconductor-related stocks in the U.S. market appears to have weighed on investor sentiment toward Korean semiconductor stocks.
According to the Korea Exchange, the KOSPI opened at 6,478.75 points before extending its losses and closing at 6,296.38 points. The index was down 1.81% at the open and ended the session 4.58% lower than the previous trading day. The decline erased much of the 5.38% gain recorded over the previous two sessions.
During the session, the index briefly fell to around 6,238 points, with losses widening to as much as 5.46%. As a result, a sell-side “sidecar” was triggered at 10:18 a.m., temporarily suspending the effectiveness of program trading sell orders for five minutes. This marked the 24th sell-side sidecar activation of the year, and the 46th activation when both buy and sell sidecars are combined.
By investor category, foreign investors led the selling. Foreign investors recorded net sales of KRW 3.3274 trillion in KOSPI shares, while institutions sold a net KRW 121.8 billion. Individual investors, however, bought a net KRW 3.3391 trillion.
The decline in the KOSPI was also notable compared with other major Asian markets. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell only 0.93%, while Taiwan’s Taiwan Weighted Index declined 0.48%. The drop in major Korean semiconductor stocks put significant pressure on the index: Samsung Electronics fell 6.30%, and SK hynix dropped 10.37%.
The weakness in Korean semiconductor stocks appears to have been driven largely by declines overnight on Wall Street in AI- and semiconductor-related companies, including Alphabet and AMD.
Alphabet fell 4.06% after reports emerged that its chief scientist Jeff Dean would leave the company. AMD plunged 7.04% after investors judged that its future revenue outlook fell short of market expectations.
Meanwhile, SanDisk declined 5.4% during regular trading amid concerns over its earnings outlook. The weakness continued in after-hours trading, where the stock fell more than 7%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ended the session down 1.40%.
Against this backdrop, global investment bank Goldman Sachs interpreted the recent increase in KOSPI volatility as a correction ahead of a larger market advance.
Goldman Sachs does not view the recent decline as the beginning of a broader bear market. Instead, it sees the move as a sharp correction within a larger bull market and maintained its 12-month KOSPI target of 12,000 points.
In a report released on August 4 (local time), Goldman Sachs strategists including Timothy Moe stated:
“The market is pricing in a more negative fundamental outlook than is justified.”
The firm maintained its overweight recommendation. A KOSPI target of 12,000 points implies approximately 92% upside from current levels.
Goldman Sachs cited several factors behind the decline, including concerns over the sustainability of the memory semiconductor cycle, selling pressure from single-stock leveraged ETFs, the withdrawal of short-term momentum investors, and a technical correction following recent overheating.
However, Goldman Sachs believes the strength and duration of the memory cycle will remain intact, supported by expanding computing demand and structural supply shortages expected to continue through 2030. The bank added that the pricing power and profitability improvements expected from this cycle have not yet been fully reflected in current stock prices.

SK Hynix plunges from ₩1.67 million to ₩1.17 million, hitting the daily limit down… Pre-market opening price sparks controversy
South Korea’s alternative trading system (NextTrade, NXT) is facing growing criticism after repeated incidents where opening prices have been heavily distorted by extremely small trading volumes.
On August 6, SK Hynix once again hit the daily limit down (-29.98%) immediately after the pre-market opened—even though only 11 shares were traded.
Only 11 shares triggered a nearly 30% drop
At 8:00 a.m., when the NXT pre-market opened, just 11 shares of SK Hynix were executed at ₩1,168,000, compared with the previous day’s close of ₩1,668,000, a decline of 29.97%.
Those 11 shares alone were enough to establish the official opening price at the daily lower limit.
Moments later, the Volatility Interruption (VI) mechanism was triggered, pausing trading for two minutes. When trading resumed, the stock quickly recovered and was down only around 3–4%.
Why did this happen?
The issue lies in how the pre-market operates.
On the Korea Exchange (KRX), opening prices are determined by collecting buy and sell orders before the market opens and matching them at a single equilibrium price.
In contrast, NextTrade uses a continuous matching system where trades are executed immediately whenever buy and sell orders match.
As a result, when the order book is extremely thin at the open, even a single trade can send the price to the daily upper or lower limit.
The previous day, Samsung Electro-Mechanics and Alteogen also opened at the daily upper limit after just one share was traded.
A similar incident previously triggered massive liquidations
The same problem occurred on July 28.
On that day, a single SK Hynix share traded at the daily lower limit was used as the reference price by the crypto derivatives platform Trade.xyz, which offers perpetual futures linked to SK Hynix.
Because the platform’s price oracle incorporated that distorted price:
the perpetual futures price dropped 17.9%;
approximately $57.4 million (about ₩81.5 billion) in long positions were forcibly liquidated.
Trade.xyz later announced it would compensate affected users for that incident but made it clear the reimbursement was a one-time exception.
Concerns over possible market manipulation
Some market participants believe traders could intentionally manipulate the thin pre-market order book to distort opening prices and trigger liquidations in overseas derivatives markets for profit.
With such limited liquidity before the regular session begins, only a few shares can significantly influence the opening price.
NextTrade plans rule changes
To address the issue, NextTrade will introduce a Static Volatility Interruption (Static VI) mechanism on September 14.
Under the new rule, if an order would move the price by more than 10% from the previous closing price, it will not be executed immediately.
Instead:
trading will pause for two minutes;
buy and sell orders will be collected;
a new equilibrium price will be calculated before trading resumes.
The goal is to prevent a handful of shares from causing extreme opening prices.
Experts say more reforms are needed
Market experts argue that this measure alone is not enough.
They believe regulators also need to:
improve how derivatives platforms calculate their price oracles;
increase pre-market liquidity.
Until broader reforms are implemented, analysts warn that similar opening-price distortions could continue to occur and advise investors to remain cautious.

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix consider significantly increasing shareholder returns
According to a report by Reuters on August 5 (local time), Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are preparing measures to increase shareholder returns and are expected to announce them soon.
Samsung Electronics said in a statement sent to Reuters:
“We will continue to focus on maintaining a sound financial structure in order to manage business cycle risks and secure funding for growth initiatives. At the same time, we are exploring ways to expand shareholder returns in a sustainable manner.”
SK Hynix said in a separate statement that it is preparing a detailed shareholder return plan to be finalized by the end of the year. The company added that it expects to increase shareholder returns to a meaningful level.
SK Hynix stated:
“Based on our record-high cash generation capabilities, we believe we can maintain investment and financial stability while also expanding shareholder returns to a meaningful level. We are reviewing various options for additional shareholder returns.”
Previously discussed measures
During its second-quarter earnings announcement on July 30, Samsung Electronics had already stated that its board of directors and management were actively discussing:
specific measures for this year’s shareholder return policy, including a possible special dividend;
as well as the company’s next shareholder return policy.
SK Hynix had also previously announced that it was reviewing various forms of additional shareholder returns.
Exceptional financial performance
Both companies have significant financial flexibility thanks to their strong results:
Samsung Electronics recorded an operating profit of 8.94924 trillion won (approximately $6.5 billion), representing an increase of 1,813.8% year-on-year.
SK Hynix reported an operating profit of 6.05426 trillion won (approximately $4.4 billion), up 557.2% compared with the same period last year.
Summary
South Korea’s two leading semiconductor manufacturers are signaling that they may announce a much more generous shareholder return policy by the end of the year, potentially through dividends, special dividends, and/or share buybacks.

Reporter: Kim Yu-jin
Updated: August 5, 2026, 8:39 PM
“zHBM” improves speed and power efficiency
Samsung Electronics unveiled zHBM, a next-generation 3D memory architecture, for the first time globally at FMS 2026 in the United States.
Key features:
A 3D structure with vertical expansion above AI accelerators
Reduced data transfer distance between chips and memory
A technology designed to address the shift toward the AI inference era
The industry’s first NAND technology exceeding 400 stacked layers
Solutions optimized for on-device AI

Samsung Electronics has introduced zHBM, a new generation of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) designed to significantly improve data processing speed and power efficiency, two critical elements for AI infrastructure. The company also unveiled zNAND-O, a high-performance NAND flash technology aimed at meeting growing demand in the AI inference era.
Samsung’s goal is to take the lead in the next generation of memory design technologies.
Kim Kyung-ryoon, Executive Vice President of Samsung’s DRAM Development Division, introduced zHBM during the keynote speech at FMS 2026, held at the Santa Clara Convention Center in California on August 4 (local time).

HBM stacked above the GPU
Traditionally, HBM is placed next to AI accelerators in a parallel configuration.
With zHBM, Samsung is adopting a three-dimensional (3D) structure where memory is vertically stacked on top of the AI accelerator.
This approach reduces the distance data must travel between the chip and memory, which is expected to improve:
bandwidth,
power efficiency,
overall performance.
According to Samsung, compared with the future 8th-generation HBM5, zHBM provides:
up to 8× higher performance per GPU,
up to 3× better performance per watt.

New NAND technology optimized for on-device AI
Samsung also introduced zNAND-O, a next-generation NAND solution optimized for on-device AI environments.
The technology uses vNAND, which vertically stacks NAND memory layers, packaging 4-layer or 8-layer memory chips into a 3D structure.
Samsung stated that zNAND-O enables:
higher capacity,
higher bandwidth,
faster response times,
real-time processing of large-scale data.
The company also claims that zNAND-O can reduce costs to one-sixth of those of traditional servers while delivering the same level of computational workload.

More than 400-layer NAND technology
Samsung also unveiled the industry’s first next-generation ultra-high-stack NAND product exceeding 400 layers, called:
V10 BV-NAND (10th generation).
Samsung said that compared with the previous V9 generation:
memory density improves by 58%,
more data can be stored in the same physical area,
read, write, and input/output speeds are improved.

AI is shifting from training to inference
With the rise of AI agents, the focus of AI development is shifting from model training toward inference.
AI inference performance depends heavily on how efficiently systems manage the KV cache, a type of temporary memory used to store previous conversations and intermediate calculations.
As storing and transferring massive amounts of data becomes increasingly important, demand for major innovations in memory architecture is accelerating.

Samsung and SK Hynix accelerate AI memory development
Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are both investing heavily in developing next-generation memory technologies with higher performance and efficiency to overcome AI memory bottlenecks.
At FMS 2026, SK Hynix also unveiled, together with U.S. flash memory company SanDisk, the industry’s first standard specification for HBF (High Bandwidth Flash), a vertically stacked NAND flash technology.

Summary:
Samsung is introducing a new 3D memory architecture that stacks HBM directly above GPUs, aiming to dramatically reduce data movement, improve AI performance and efficiency, and strengthen its position in the AI memory race against SK Hynix.

“No Basis for Calling Korea’s Stock Market Uninvestable”: Government Rebuts Bloomberg
By Kim Nam-gyu
Updated: August 5, 2026, 12:12 p.m.
The South Korean government has strongly rejected a Bloomberg Opinion column that described the country’s stock market as a difficult place to invest. According to the government, the article relied on inaccurate or unverified statistics to portray the Korean market negatively.
On August 5, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) released a statement titled “The Government’s Position on the Domestic Stock Market.” The FSC said that, at a time when South Korea is emerging as an indispensable part of the global artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain and an attractive investment destination, there is no basis for labeling the country unsuitable for investment based on unsupported figures.
Government disputes Bloomberg’s statistics
The FSC specifically challenged several statistics cited in the Bloomberg column.
The article claimed that there were 360,000 margin-call liquidation accounts. However, according to the FSC, the average daily number of forced liquidation accounts in June was about 3,000, including both margin loans and credit trading accounts.
The commission added that it could not identify the source of Bloomberg’s 360,000-account figure.
Economy and corporate fundamentals remain strong
The government argued that despite recent market volatility, South Korea’s economy and listed companies continue to have solid fundamentals.
Second-quarter GDP grew 3.7% year-on-year.
In May, the country’s current account surplus reached a record US$38.61 billion.
Corporate earnings forecasts continue to improve
According to estimates from FnGuide, cited by the FSC, projected combined earnings for companies listed on the KOSPI have risen significantly:
644 trillion won at the end of March.
978 trillion won as of August 4.
This is even higher than the 930 trillion won earnings forecast recorded when the KOSPI reached its peak on June 22.
The FSC also emphasized that major global investment banks continue to maintain a positive outlook on the Korean equity market.
Volatility acknowledged, but confidence is returning
The commission acknowledged that market volatility has increased since mid-June, attributing it to a combination of factors. However, it said there are recent signs that investor sentiment is recovering.
Regarding single-stock leveraged exchange-traded products, the government said it plans to introduce additional safeguards to reduce market instability.
Trading volume in these products has fallen sharply:
19.4 trillion won on June 25 (peak),
12.4 trillion won on July 30,
1.3 trillion won on August 4.
Background
In a recent Bloomberg Opinion column, columnist Shuli Ren argued that South Korea’s sharp market volatility and the popularity of single-stock leveraged products could discourage foreign investors.
She cited:
the significant decline in the KOSPI since its June peak;
substantial losses in leveraged products linked to SK Hynix.
However, not all market observers share that view. Morgan Stanley, for example, recently upgraded its recommendation on South Korean equities to “Overweight,” reflecting a positive assessment of the market’s underlying fundamentals.
The FSC concluded:
“We will firmly maintain market stability while managing short-term volatility. We will also continue to implement capital market reforms aimed at strengthening the resilience and long-term growth potential of Korea’s stock market.”

SK hynix unveils first standard specifications for next-generation AI memory HBF
Reporter: Kim Seong-min
August 4, 2026 – 12:52 PM
Open strategy aimed at taking leadership in the AI chip ecosystem
SK hynix announced on August 4 that it has revealed, together with SanDisk, the first standard specifications for HBF (High Bandwidth Flash), a next-generation storage technology, through the Open Compute Project (OCP).
The announcement was made at FMS 2026, the world’s largest memory technology conference, held at the Santa Clara Convention Center in California.

HBF: NAND-based memory designed for AI accelerators
Unlike HBM, which is based on DRAM, HBF is a NAND flash-based memory technology designed for AI accelerators.
Because NAND can store significantly more data than DRAM within the same area, it enables faster transfer of larger amounts of data between storage and GPUs.
If HBM can be compared to a “workbench” next to an AI chip where data is processed at extremely high speed, HBF is more like a “large storage warehouse” located nearby.
The technology is gaining attention because the rapid expansion of AI inference is creating a massive increase in the amount of data that needs to be processed. HBF aims to improve both:
bandwidth;
capacity scalability.

SK hynix aims to establish leadership through an open standard
To secure an early lead in HBF technology, SK hynix began collaborating with SanDisk in August 2025 to develop a common standard.
In February 2026, the company also launched an HBF-related consortium with:
Google;
Tenstorrent.
The release of these specifications comes only six months after the consortium was created. The goal is to establish HBF as an industry standard and maintain technological leadership.
SK hynix previously developed the world’s first HBM technology with AMD in 2013. This time, the company plans to lead the market for HBF together with SanDisk.

Up to 512GB capacity and 3.0TB/s bandwidth
The HBF standard proposed by SK hynix and SanDisk includes two configurations:
stacking 8 NAND flash dies;
stacking 16 NAND flash dies.
The specifications include:
maximum storage capacity: 512GB;
bandwidth divided into three performance levels;
transfer speeds ranging from 0.4TB/s to 3.0TB/s.

Open standard strategy to attract more partners
SK hynix is positioning HBF as an open standard.
The strategy is designed to attract more companies and create a broader ecosystem, especially as:
NVIDIA;
Kioxia;
are also developing different memory approaches for next-generation AI accelerators.
For connecting HBF with GPUs, SK hynix has adopted the industry-standard UCIe interface, allowing flexible integration with different types of processors.
The company is also using the Open Compute Project (OCP), the world’s largest open data center technology collaboration group, to strengthen its influence in the AI semiconductor ecosystem.

A new memory architecture for the AI era
At FMS 2026, SK hynix will also present its vision for a hierarchical memory architecture, designed to connect and optimize different types of memory within a single system.
A panel discussion featuring executives from:
Google DeepMind;
SanDisk;
will discuss the role and future potential of HBF.
SK hynix will also unveil for the first time:
a next-generation 10th-generation 375-layer 4D NAND flash wafer;
related products currently under development.
Kim Cheon-seong, head of solution development at SK hynix, said:
“As AI adoption accelerates rapidly, the entire data processing architecture needs to be redesigned. Through HBF, we aim to expand the boundaries between memory and storage and contribute to new architectures that improve overall system efficiency.”

Summary:
SK hynix is attempting to repeat what it achieved with HBM: create an industry standard around a new AI memory technology and become a central player in the AI accelerator ecosystem.

By Kim Mi-jung
Updated: August 4, 2026, 10:58 AM
As South Korea’s stock market experiences unprecedented volatility, Bloomberg has sharply criticized the country, arguing that it is “becoming uninvestable.” Despite the global AI boom, the publication says extreme market swings and poorly executed government policies have left retail investors traumatized.
On August 4, Bloomberg columnist Shuli Ren published an opinion piece titled:
“South Korea Is Becoming Uninvestable, Too.”
She describes South Korea as one of the hottest—but also one of the most volatile—equity markets in the world this year.
A Crash Comparable to China’s 2015 Meltdown
The column notes that the KOSPI has fallen nearly 40% in just 27 trading days, a decline comparable to China’s 2015 stock market crash.
However, unlike China back then, Bloomberg acknowledges that South Korean companies have strong fundamentals.
Bulls argue that companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which together account for more than half of the KOSPI’s market capitalization, remain attractively valued.
But Shuli Ren disagrees.
According to her:
“The government’s clumsy attempts to prop up the KOSPI have hurt a new generation of investors and damaged the market’s reputation.”
Volatility Is the Biggest Problem
Bloomberg argues that the market’s greatest weakness is its extreme volatility.
Since the beginning of the year:
The KOSPI has experienced 33 trading days with moves greater than ±5%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 has had only 4 such days.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index has had none.
According to the column, this level of volatility is a major reason why foreign institutional investors are avoiding the Korean market.
Single-Stock Leveraged ETFs Blamed
Bloomberg points to the single-stock leveraged ETFs, approved by the government at the end of May, as a major contributor to the volatility.
According to Goldman Sachs, at the market peak in June:
when SK Hynix moved 5%,
ETF rebalancing flows accounted for around 40% of the stock’s average daily trading volume.
In other words, these ETFs significantly amplified price movements.
Although the government has recently tightened regulations by raising the minimum cash deposit required to trade leveraged products, Bloomberg argues:
“Unless these products are discontinued, their side effects will remain.”
Retail Investors Paid the Price
Bloomberg says retail investors have been the biggest victims.
Many invested after believing President Lee Jae-myung’s promise to eliminate the so-called “Korea Discount”—the chronic undervaluation of Korean stocks.
While foreign investors were selling, retail investors continued buying.
As a result:
the most popular SK Hynix leveraged ETF has plunged 84% from its June peak;
approximately 360,000 brokerage accounts were forcibly liquidated through margin calls.
Bloomberg estimates that 62% of those liquidated accounts belonged to investors under the age of 35.
National Pension Fund Also Criticized
The article also criticizes the National Pension Service (NPS).
According to Bloomberg, instead of selling Korean equities as originally planned, the pension fund raised its domestic equity allocation target, abandoning its traditional role of helping cool an overheated market and instead fueling the rally.
“South Korea Risks Following China’s Path”
The column concludes with a stark warning.
In recent years, many global asset managers have described China as “uninvestable” because of policy mistakes and weak investor protection.
Bloomberg argues that similar concerns are now emerging about South Korea.
It concludes:
“The Korean government needs to ask itself what it’s doing—and whether young first-time investors are actually being protected.”

LFG!!! MU 2000 EOY still valid. F the 🐻.

“Even if equipment investment increases, it takes 3–5 years before production begins… The memory supercycle could last until 2030”
Published: August 4, 2026, 12:39 AM
Supply shortages will be difficult to resolve in the short term
A new forecast suggests that the memory semiconductor supercycle (a period of exceptionally strong demand and growth) could extend into 2029–2030, beyond the previously expected peak in 2028. This is because memory companies such as Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, and Micron are making massive investments in production capacity to meet demand driven by artificial intelligence (AI), but it takes 3–5 years for those investments to translate into actual production, while AI data centers’ demand for memory continues to rise.
According to global consulting firm Deloitte, the combined capital expenditure (CAPEX) of the three major memory chipmakers — Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron — is expected to reach $146 billion (around 209 trillion won) in 2027, about 3.4 times higher than the $43 billion invested in 2024. This would represent more than half (56%) of the global semiconductor equipment spending forecast for next year ($260 billion). Memory companies are therefore aggressively expanding their capacity.
However, even with rapid increases in investment, building factories and installing equipment takes 3–5 years, making it difficult to resolve supply shortages quickly. Deloitte said:
“Despite the sharp increase in memory companies’ capital investments, additional supply capacity will remain difficult to achieve until 2029–2030.”
While supply growth remains limited, demand for memory continues to increase. According to semiconductor analysis firm SemiAnalysis, memory now accounts for 30% of hyperscalers’ capital spending (large data center operators), up from 8% in 2023–2024, nearly a fourfold increase. This share is expected to rise to 36% next year.
Hyperscalers’ capital expenditure is expected to reach $1.14 trillion next year, with around $410 billion spent on memory purchases. SemiAnalysis said:
“DRAM prices are expected to more than double in 2026 and continue to rise at a double-digit rate next year,” adding that “the structural supply shortage of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) is expected to continue through 2027.”
The semiconductor industry originally expected the memory shortage to ease from 2028 onward. However, recent views suggest the shortage could continue beyond 2030.
SK hynix CEO Kwak No-jung said in a Reuters interview last month:
“Next year will be the worst year in the industry’s history from a supply perspective,” adding, “We expect customer demand to exceed supply capacity even after 2030.”
Samsung Electronics also stated during its second-quarter earnings announcement:
“Large customers requiring significant AI service infrastructure continue to request multi-year supply agreements for the medium and long term (after 2029).”
A senior semiconductor industry official said:
“Big Tech’s investment in AI data centers is growing faster than memory companies’ ability to expand production capacity. The memory boom is likely to last longer than expected.”
— Park Ji-min, Reporter (bgm@chosun.com)
Summary: The article argues that the AI-driven memory boom, especially demand for HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) used in AI accelerators, could continue until 2030 or beyond because new chip production capacity takes several years to build.

PS: If Trump doesn’t throw a curveball between the US market close and the Korean market open tonight, we’ll have another chance to crush the premium!