Key Highlights

South Korea's Kospi benchmark surged 4.6% on Monday, propelled by gains in semiconductor stocks.

SK Hynix shares climbed 8.3% while Samsung Electronics advanced 5.7% on artificial intelligence chip momentum.

DRAM industry revenue reached $154.73 billion in Q2 2026, a 59.5% sequential increase.

The two South Korean giants command approximately 64% of worldwide DRAM market share.

Industry analysts project DRAM pricing will rise 13% to 18% during Q3 2026.

South Korean equities posted substantial gains on Monday as market participants showed confidence in the ongoing expansion of artificial intelligence technologies, delivering significant upside to memory semiconductor manufacturers. The moves underscore how heavily weighted the Kospi is toward its two memory chip giants: Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have long been among the largest components of the index, so their share-price swings exert an outsized influence on the broader Korean market.

The Kospi index closed with a 4.6% advance. Samsung Electronics climbed 5.7% while SK Hynix surged 8.3%, both companies reaching their highest closing levels in several months. SK Hynix finished at 1.783 million won per share, and Samsung settled at 270,000 won.

Japan's Nikkei 225 benchmark also posted gains, advancing 2.1%. The CSI 300 in mainland China rose 0.6%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index declined 0.9%.

Friday's robust U.S. employment data likely contributed momentum to the regional rally. The United States added 162,000 jobs in August, significantly exceeding analyst projections.

European indices failed to mirror Asia's positive sentiment. The Stoxx 600 declined 0.2% in early sessions, and Germany's Dax also fell 0.2% following a right-wing party's victory in a state election. U.S. markets remained closed for the Labor Day holiday.

Memory Chip Market Delivers Impressive Revenue Expansion

The rally in South Korean technology stocks coincided with fresh industry data showing robust expansion in worldwide DRAM markets. Total sector revenue climbed to $154.73 billion in Q2 2026, a 59.5% sequential jump, according to findings from TrendForce research. The surge marks a sharp reversal from the memory industry's historically cyclical pattern, in which oversupply and falling prices have repeatedly driven downturns; this time, demand tied to AI data center construction is stretching supply in the opposite direction.

Samsung maintained its position as market leader with DRAM sales of $60.98 billion, a 63.4% quarter-over-quarter increase. The company's market share expanded from 38.5% to 39.4%. Samsung has been aggressively scaling production of its sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory technology, designated HBM4. High-bandwidth memory stacks DRAM chips vertically and sits alongside AI accelerators from designers such as Nvidia, making it a critical component for training and running large AI models and a key growth driver for the Korean suppliers.

SK Hynix recorded DRAM sales of $38.59 billion, up 37.9%. Despite the revenue growth, its market position contracted from 28.8% to 24.9%. This decline reflects the characteristics of HBM supply agreements, which involve extended contract periods that delay the recognition of price adjustments.

Micron Technology secured third position, achieving revenue growth of 65.5% to reach $36 billion. The American company's market share expanded from 22.4% to 23.3%, narrowing its gap behind SK Hynix. Together, the three firms account for nearly the entire global DRAM market, an oligopolistic structure that amplifies the effect of any supply or pricing shift across the industry.

Constrained Supply Meets Intensifying AI Requirements

Memory chip inventories continue to run lean throughout the sector. TrendForce anticipates supply expansion will remain constrained during Q3, maintaining upward momentum on pricing. DRAM prices are projected to climb between 13% and 18% in the upcoming quarter.

Certain personal computer and smartphone manufacturers may find it challenging to accommodate these price increases, potentially moderating the pace of future gains. Rising memory costs are a recurring pressure point for device makers, since DRAM is a standard component in PCs and phones, and higher component prices can squeeze their margins or feed into end-product prices if passed on to consumers.

Wall Street projections for Samsung's Q3 operating profit have increased 12% over the last three months to 114.19 trillion won. Estimates for SK Hynix have risen 4% to 78.80 trillion won.

Demand for AI-optimized memory chips is projected to remain robust as technology companies continue developing increasingly sophisticated models and more powerful computing infrastructures. Upcoming developments to monitor include the pace of HBM4 production ramp-ups, whether Q3 DRAM pricing lands within the projected range, and how device manufacturers respond to sustained memory cost inflation.