Semiconductor Stocks Surge on Nvidia's Surprise Performance... Will the Uptrend Continue?

The American AI semiconductor company Nvidia has posted a surprise performance (earnings surprise) for the first quarter, leading semiconductor-related stocks to continue their strength. The securities industry expects Nvidia's strong performance to stimulate expectations for AI infrastructure investment, leading to a positive supply flow in the domestic semiconductor sector overall.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 29th, SK Hynix closed at 212,000 won, up 1.92% from the previous trading day. Samsung Electronics also ended up 0.36% at 56,100 won.

Earlier, Nvidia announced on the 28th (local time) that its first-quarter results for the fiscal year 2025 (February to April) exceeded market expectations. Revenue increased by 69% year-on-year to 44 billion dollars, and net profit surged by 26% to 18.8 billion dollars.

As a result, domestic semiconductor-related stocks showed strength. From the previous day, expectations for performance were pre-reflected, and Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, etc., showed an upward trend of around 3%. The rise in stock prices was led by institutions. Institutions made net purchases of 302.1 billion won and 255.3 billion won of SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, respectively, over two days from the 28th to the 29th.

The securities industry analyzes that the increase in AI server demand and the spread of demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and enterprise solid-state drives (eSSD) can directly lead to a recovery in semiconductor performance. In particular, as NAND flash prices show an upward trend, there is a possibility of a rebound in the second-half performance of both Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which have a high proportion of NAND flash sales.

Do Sang-woo, a researcher at KB Securities, analyzed, "The full-scale introduction of AI servers and the expansion of data center infrastructure will drive the eSSD market into a supply shortage," adding, "The eSSD market is expected to see prices rise by up to 10% in the third and fourth quarters with low finished product inventory."

He continued, "The increase in AI server demand leads to an increase in memory demand such as HBM and eSSD in addition to GPUs," explaining, "This is expected to have a positive impact on the NAND flash performance of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix."

Ryu Hyung-geun, a researcher at Daishin Securities, diagnosed, "While Nvidia's new product supply is stabilizing, inference investment demand centered on big tech is increasing," adding, "The phenomenon of pre-orders being pulled for HBM3e 12-layer products is appearing, and the competition to secure supply lines is intensifying."

The next-generation AI GPU 'GB300' series, scheduled to be released in the second half, is also expected to act as an additional demand factor for the domestic semiconductor industry.

The market is focusing on the possibility that AI demand expansion will not just be a short-term effect but will lead to a simultaneous rise in memory prices and shipments. Researcher Do added, "As long as the AI server investment trend continues, the demand for high-value memory centered on HBM and eSSD will structurally increase," adding, "The current stock price reflects most uncertainties, so there is plenty of room for valuation reassessment if future performance visibility increases."

koreanbae@fnnews.com Bae Hangul Reporter