Korean retail investors' buying spree in US equities is increasingly concentrated on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure stocks. Semiconductor, memory, cloud and data center names have swept the top ranks of net purchases, while funds are also flowing into an inverse exchange-traded fund (ETF) betting on a chip decline, deepening the AI-centered concentration.
According to the Korea Securities Depository on the 13th, the top net-buy US stock among domestic investors from the 1st to the 12th of this month was Intel at $347.06 million (about 519.02 billion won). It was followed by Alphabet ($263.88 million), Micron ($208.43 million), the Roundhill Memory ETF ($151.12 million) and the Invesco Nasdaq 100 ETF ($118.74 million).
Most of the top names were AI data center and semiconductor stocks. Intel and Micron are seen as key beneficiaries of rising demand for AI server chips and memory. Alphabet has also drawn growth expectations, including discussions with SpaceX on building data centers in Earth's orbit.
Flows into memory chip-related ETFs stand out in particular. The Roundhill Memory ETF invests in global memory makers such as Micron, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, and has drawn strong buying from Korean investors amid expectations for growing demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and AI servers.
Concerns over heightened volatility following the recent surge in chip stocks are also growing. Korean investors poured $66.87 million (about 99.7 billion won) into the Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bear 3X ETF (SOXS), which tracks three times the inverse of a US-listed semiconductor index. Even as AI-related stocks keep rallying, investors are simultaneously betting on a possible short-term pullback.
Analysts say the AI infrastructure investment cycle is likely to be prolonged, and the concentration on related names in both domestic and overseas markets will likely continue for some time. Lee Jin-woo, head of the Meritz Securities research center, said, "Chip stock prices have risen sharply in a short period, but there is not yet any debate over the uptrend itself," adding, "Since a small number of semiconductor companies are currently leading the market, their impact on the broader market is even greater."
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