South Korea's KOSPI index has nearly doubled this year, with a structural shift in memory chip demand leading the rally

Odaily reported that the stunning rally in South Korea's stock market has propelled the cumulative gain to nearly 100% so far in 2026, even surpassing historic surges seen before the dot-com bubble burst and during South Korea's industrialization boom in the late 1980s. Driven by sharp gains in memory chip makers such as SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, South Korea's benchmark KOSPI index has repeatedly hit record highs, surging from 5000 points to 8300 points in just a few months. The index rose as much as 5.1% intraday on Wednesday. With the year not even half over, the index's current performance is on par with the 102% gain of the Nasdaq 100 Index before the 1999 bubble burst. However, few market participants are currently issuing bubble warnings for South Korea's stock market, as they believe the structure of global memory chip demand has shifted from a previous cyclical pattern to a more long-term, sustained growth trend. (Jin Shi)