AI Demand Nears a Boiling Point... "Long-Term Rates Pause, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix Could Rally Again"

[Financial News] With the rise in long-term interest rates pausing, analysts say it is time to refocus on semiconductor stocks. As AI investment expands from graphics processing units (GPUs) to central processing units (CPUs) and memory, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are expected to benefit from a reassessment of their corporate values.
On the 25th, KB Securities analyst Kim Min-gyu said, "If long-term rates settle down, even temporarily, following the rate hikes, I believe it is now time to take another look at semiconductor stocks." He added, "Given increased trading volume capable of breaking through overhead resistance and stable interest rates, conditions now favor a bullish alignment over a bearish alignment."
Analyst Kim assessed that the nature of semiconductor stocks has changed. "Semiconductors used to be commodity stocks that followed the logic of a cyclical industry, but since the sharp rise in May, their character has changed to that of AI narrative stocks," he said. "Narrative stocks are vulnerable to interest rates, but their upside and downside both remain open." This means that expectations for AI growth and changes in interest rates, in addition to semiconductor industry conditions, now have a greater impact on stock prices.
Recent stock movements have highlighted the convergence of short- and long-term moving averages. "The recent rebound in stock prices following the moderation of rising interest rates is drawing attention because, technically, it reflects a convergence in which energy has become highly compressed," analyst Kim said. "Recently, semiconductor stocks have gone through sharp rises, sharp falls and time-based consolidation, bringing their short- and long-term moving averages into convergence." The analysis suggests that short- and long-term holders now have similar average purchase prices, meaning this price range could become a strong support or resistance level. 
The schedules of major overseas initial public offerings (IPOs), including Anthropic's, were also cited as positive catalysts for semiconductor stock fund flows. Kim said, "Anthropic's IPO being pushed back from September to October and then November gave semiconductor stocks some breathing room in terms of fund flows. With exchange rates currently more favorable than they were at the time of SpaceX's IPO, Anthropic would have absorbed more capital had it gone public now."
The fact that Meta's recently unveiled AI agent Muse could boost demand for CPUs and memory also represents a positive narrative. 
In a report released that day, Kim Dong-won, head of KB Securities' research division, and researcher Lee Chang-min noted, "The central axis of AI infrastructure investment is rapidly expanding beyond GPUs to CPUs and memory." They added, "AI agent Muse has risen to No. 1 in downloads on the U.S. App Store, demonstrating that AI services are beginning to prove both their ability to expand actual user traffic and their monetization potential."
The recent fact that AMD became the fourth U.S. semiconductor company, after NVIDIA, Broadcom and Micron, to surpass a market capitalization of $1 trillion was also viewed as a symbolic shift showing that the focus of AI infrastructure investment is rapidly spreading. 
Kim said, "The growth of server CPUs is directly expanding demand for high-capacity DDR5 server DRAM." He explained, "Growth in GPUs and AI accelerators is simultaneously driving up demand for HBM, and memory demand is expected to enter a phase of broad-based expansion." 
He also predicted that the focus of future AI competition would shift toward the ability to supply data. "Competition over AI system performance is moving beyond simply increasing computing power to a contest over how much data can be supplied to computing devices, and how quickly," Kim emphasized. "Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are expected to be reassessed as core assets of AI infrastructure, rather than merely memory suppliers, boosting their strategic value."
 
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