Korean retail investors are aggressively betting on the memory chip sector's recovery: 118.5 billion KRW poured into a US memory ETF in a single week

Odaily News According to data from the Korea Securities Depository, Korean retail investors recorded a net purchase of approximately $85.61 million (about 118.5 billion KRW) in the "Roundhill Memory ETF" between August 14 and 20, making it the second-largest product by net purchase amount among the country's overseas individual stocks and ETFs (trailing only Google's parent company Alphabet). This actively managed ETF primarily invests in major memory chip companies such as Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron.

Recently, memory chip stocks have shown a clear rebound. From August 10 to 21, SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics saw their stock prices rise by 21.6% and 21.8%, respectively, both outpacing the 10.4% gain of the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) over the same period. On the US market side, Micron rose approximately 11% during the same timeframe, while SanDisk gained around 32%.

The domestic Korean ETF market has also seen capital inflows. Data shows that between August 14 and 20, the "TIGER US S&P500 ETF," which tracks the S&P 500 index, attracted net inflows of 170.9 billion KRW, while the "KODEX US Nasdaq 100 ETF," which tracks the Nasdaq 100 index, saw net inflows of 132.3 billion KRW. Market analysts believe that as expectations for a semiconductor cycle recovery grow, investors are increasing their allocations to the AI chip and memory chip supply chain. (Daum)