“Foreign Investors Dumped 7 Trillion Won”... Can Broadcom Save Battered Samsung Electronics and SK hynix?

[Financial News] Market attention is focused on whether Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, South Korea’s two leading semiconductor companies battered by external headwinds, can reverse course ahead of Broadcom’s earnings announcement. Broadcom is a leading U.S. company specializing in customized artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors.
According to financial investment industry sources on the 3rd, Broadcom will release its third-quarter results for fiscal 2026, covering May through July, after the close of trading on the 2nd U.S. Eastern Time, or the morning of the 3rd in South Korea. Broadcom designs application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for global technology giants such as Google and Meta Platforms, as well as data-center networking chips. Along with NVIDIA Corporation, it is considered a key indicator of the sustainability of global tech companies’ AI investments.

South Korean semiconductor stocks have recently taken a direct hit from external macroeconomic variables, including escalating geopolitical risks stemming from the Middle East and a sharp rise in the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds. In the previous session, Samsung Electronics fell 4.02% to close at 250,500 won, while SK hynix dropped 4.73% to 1,613,000 won on the KOSPI Composite Index.
Foreign investors sold a net 10.1659 trillion won worth of stocks on the KOSPI Composite Index in August alone. Of that amount, 7.13 trillion won came from the semiconductor sector—approximately 6.4 trillion won in SK hynix and 820 billion won in Samsung Electronics—putting pressure on share prices. When Broadcom previously issued third-quarter AI revenue guidance of $16 billion, below the market expectation of $17.2 billion, the two leading South Korean semiconductor stocks also plunged 6.4% and 9.92%, respectively. As a result, this earnings announcement is expected to serve as a test that could determine short-term fund flows.

The market’s greatest interest lies not in the current-quarter results alone, but in whether Broadcom raises its AI revenue guidance for fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2027. NVIDIA Corporation previously said, alongside strong second-quarter results, that bottlenecks in AI supply would continue. Broadcom must likewise demonstrate sustained strong demand to dispel concerns that AI investment has peaked.
Optimism prevails on Wall Street. JPMorgan Chase estimates that Broadcom’s AI revenue will exceed $56 billion in fiscal 2026 and reach $130 billion in fiscal 2027, far above the company’s target of $100 billion. It maintained a $580 price target.
Park Jae-hwan, a researcher at Eugene Investment & Securities, noted, “The key issues in these results are whether Broadcom raises its AI revenue guidance for fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2027, and whether it has secured the supply chain needed to support that guidance.” Junyeong Kim, a researcher at iM Securities, likewise assessed, “Foreign net buying could return when a strong growth narrative is reaffirmed in the AI camp.”

As Broadcom expands production of customized AI chips, or ASICs, demand for essential components such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and advanced packaging is expected to rise. This is fueling expectations of medium- to long-term benefits for South Korea’s two leading semiconductor companies. Samsung Electronics and SK hynix have both established close partnerships with Broadcom, building a robust AI ecosystem.
In July, Samsung Electronics signed a memorandum of understanding with Broadcom to build next-generation AI infrastructure, expanding their alliance. The two companies agreed to pursue large-scale cooperation worth a combined $200 billion, or approximately 275 trillion won, in memory and foundry businesses over the next five years through 2030. Under the agreement, Samsung Electronics will supply cutting-edge memory solutions, including HBM, and play a central role in enhancing the performance of Broadcom’s AI accelerators.
SK hynix has also further strengthened its “one-team” partnership with Broadcom. In February, Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, met with Broadcom CEO Hock Tan at the company’s headquarters in San Jose, United States, to share mid- to long-term memory supply strategies and technology road maps. The two companies agreed to apply SK hynix’s advanced HBM technology from the early stages of Broadcom’s chip design and have continued their close cooperation.
A securities industry official said, “The ties between Broadcom and South Korea’s leading semiconductor companies are growing stronger by the day.” The official added, “If Broadcom’s forward guidance and order trends meet market expectations, recently weakened foreign investor sentiment could quickly recover and become a catalyst for a powerful rebound in South Korea’s leading stocks.”
[email protected] Moon Young-jin Reporter