观点：If even Apple can't absorb rising costs, the market questions the sustainability of memory chip profit margins

Odaily Planet Daily News South Korea's stock market tumbled, with chip stocks facing another sell-off, highlighting their high sensitivity to fluctuations in global AI investment sentiment. The KOSPI index fell over 8% intraday on Friday, erasing all gains from the previous trading day and triggering market circuit breakers, with shares of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both falling about 9%. Foreign investors sold 2.5 trillion won (approximately $1.6 billion) worth of KOSPI stocks during morning trading.

This sharp decline marked a rapid reversal of Thursday's surge, when Micron Technology's optimistic earnings outlook and news of SK Hynix's plan to list in the US temporarily boosted optimism about the sustainability of the AI investment boom. However, market sentiment quickly deteriorated as investors digested news of Apple raising prices due to memory chip shortages and the potential delay of OpenAI's IPO until next year.

Fabien Yip, a market analyst at IG International, said: "As one of the world's largest component buyers, if even Apple cannot absorb rising costs, it indeed raises questions about demand elasticity and the sustainability of memory chip profit margins." He added that the delay of OpenAI's IPO also reflects the vulnerability of tech stocks to fluctuations in retail investor enthusiasm. (Jin Shi)