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As investor enthusiasm for AI trading cools and regulators strengthen measures to curb demand, leveraged ETFs linked to chip manufacturers in South Korea have seen nearly $1 billion in outflows this month. So far, leveraged products tracking Samsung Electronics have experienced outflows of $381 million in August, while related products tracking SK Hynix have seen outflows of $601 million, marking the first monthly outflow for these products since their launch at the end of May.Especially during the global AI trading sell-off in July, when the South Korean Kospi index experienced a historic plunge, with a monthly decline of 22%. Subsequently, South Korean regulators raised the minimum margin requirements for new investors purchasing such products and required investors to undergo a 5-day simulated trading period.

Analysis indicates that China's major DRAM manufacturer CXMT's monthly wafer output has reached a peak of approximately 240,000 pieces by the end of 2025, and is expected to remain flat in 2026. Due to the tightening of U.S. export controls on advanced semiconductor equipment, especially EUV lithography machines, its capacity for expansion is limited, and substantial expansion will not occur until at least 2027, depending on the progress of the domestic equipment supply chain. According to Goldman Sachs data, CXMT's coverage of domestic DRAM demand is only about 41% in 2026 and about 50% in 2028, reflecting a structural bottleneck for many years.TrendForce data shows that traditional DRAM contract prices are expected to surge by 90%-95% quarter-on-quarter in the first quarter of 2026, followed by another increase of 58%-63% in the second quarter. Jefferies predicts that prices will continue to rise by 40%-50% and 30%-40% in the third and fourth quarters, respectively. The price increase for server DRAM is even steeper, with Samsung and SK Hynix proposing price hikes of 60%-70% to clients like Microsoft and Google in the first quarter. S&P Global expects Samsung's traditional DRAM revenue per bit to rise by 116% year-on-year to $0.79 in 2026, while Micron's ASP will increase by 54% to $1.06; Bernstein predicts that SK Hynix's DRAM gross margin could reach 92.7% in the fourth quarter of 2026.Multiple forecasts suggest that effective supply relief may not occur until the end of 2027 or even 2028.

According to a report by ZDNet Korea, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix plan to continue investing in equipment for NAND flash production lines in China until next year to strengthen local production bases. Since the first half of this year, Samsung has been advancing V9 NAND conversion investments at the Xi'an X2 production line, which features an advanced process with approximately 280 layers stacked, and is expected to achieve a monthly production capacity of 40,000 to 50,000 wafers. To stabilize mass production, the company has confirmed a supplementary investment plan, focusing on additional etching process equipment, with related procurement orders expected to be clarified around the end of the year, and the supplementary investment planned to be executed starting in the second half of next year.SK Hynix has been advancing equipment investments related to NAND product upgrades at its Dalian Plant 2 since the third quarter of this year, with a discussed scale of approximately 30,000 wafers per month. Key manufacturing equipment will begin arriving next month, with plans to complete deployment by the first half of next year. The Dalian plant is an asset acquired after SK Hynix took over Intel's NAND division in the second half of 2020. In 2022, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for the expansion of Plant 2, but equipment investment was temporarily halted due to market conditions; this investment is now being restarted.Industry insiders point out that the above arrangements aim to gradually expand advanced NAND capacity within China to meet the rapid growth in demand for high-end storage in fields such as artificial intelligence servers.

Counterpoint Research predicts that Samsung Electronics will regain its leading position in the smartphone market this year, indicating its stronger resilience against rising memory chip prices. Since the beginning of this year, the shortage of memory supply has become increasingly severe, and Counterpoint expects global smartphone shipments to decline by 14.3% by 2026. Samsung, with its highly integrated supply chain and mature distribution network, is an exception, with expected shipment growth of 0.8%, outperforming other manufacturers.Counterpoint states that the overall smartphone market is expected to decline again in 2027, followed by a recovery the next year. Similar to Samsung, Apple is expected to withstand the pressure from rising component prices, but the agency is more cautious about Apple's outlook. Apart from Samsung, only China's Huawei has established its own hardware supply system, which is expected to maintain significant growth.Counterpoint's chief analyst points out that the key to Samsung's return to the top lies in its internal component manufacturing capabilities, diverse product line, and solid relationships with carriers and retailers. It is expected that leading smartphone manufacturers in China will face greater shipment pressure, and the acceleration of industry consolidation during the economic downturn remains its fundamental forecast.

According to Jinshi reports, informed sources revealed that Samsung Electronics will announce a new shareholder return plan on Friday, with a scale potentially reaching 110 trillion won (79 billion USD). Informed sources stated that the Samsung board is scheduled to hold a meeting after the Korean stock market closes, around 4 PM local time, and the details of the plan will be announced shortly after the meeting. According to informed sources, the scale of this shareholder return plan is expected to be between 90 trillion won and 110 trillion won.

On August 20, according to the Korea Economic Daily, Samsung Electronics plans to announce a shareholder return plan worth approximately 150 trillion won this month, exceeding the previously reported amount of 100 trillion won. It is expected to include measures such as stock buybacks and special dividends, potentially setting a new historical high for listed companies in South Korea. Industry insiders revealed that Samsung Electronics plans to hold a board meeting this month to review the relevant proposals. Earlier, the market had anticipated that the return scale could reach as high as 200 trillion won, but considering the company's basic principle of using 50% of free cash flow (FCF) for shareholder returns, the final scale is expected to be between 150 trillion and 160 trillion won.Samsung Electronics executives stated that with the recovery of the memory chip industry, the company's cash generation ability has significantly improved. Brokerages expect Samsung Electronics' total free cash flow for this year to be approximately 263 trillion won, and the cumulative free cash flow during the shareholder return policy period from 2024 to 2026 is expected to be around 319 trillion won. Based on a 50% return ratio, the total return funds are about 160 trillion won. After deducting the 39.1 trillion won already executed and planned for execution, the remaining funds are close to 120 trillion won.The market expects that Samsung Electronics may use the remaining funds to add a large-scale special dividend in addition to maintaining the regular dividend of 1,668 won per share each year, and to promote large-scale stock buybacks. Industry insiders indicate that following SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics' launch of a large-scale shareholder return plan may become an important factor in driving the valuation increase of the South Korean stock market.

According to ZDNet Korea, Samsung Electronics is accelerating the expansion of its advanced wafer foundry capacity in the United States. The company plans to start the second phase of construction at the Taylor wafer plant in Texas by the end of this year, aiming for mass production by 2030, and has requested major equipment partners to obtain SEMI certification in advance for subsequent equipment import and export. SEMI certification is a standard for assessing the safety of semiconductor equipment and is usually a necessary procedure before equipment leaves the country.The Taylor wafer plant is responsible for Samsung's most advanced foundry mass production tasks. The first phase is currently undergoing equipment entry and installation, with a target to start production by the end of this year, focusing on a 2-nanometer mass production process, with Tesla seen as a core customer. Samsung stated in last month's second-quarter earnings call that to respond promptly to the growing customer demand, the second phase of Taylor will commence by the end of this year. Industry insiders say that although the specific specifications for the second phase have not yet been finalized, Samsung's foundry business has already pushed forward relevant preparations in advance.Previously, Samsung had postponed the investment in the first phase of Taylor multiple times due to insufficient customers and a sluggish market, until Tesla signed a foundry agreement worth approximately 22.76 trillion won in the third quarter of last year, which accelerated construction. The actual pace of mass production in the second phase will still depend on the expansion of supply to Tesla and the progress of new major customers. Additionally, there are reports that Samsung E&A is considering dispatching dozens of construction personnel locally.

According to Gate market data, Samsung Electronics' increase has expanded to 10%, with news that the company will announce a trillion won shareholder return plan.

According to the Dong-A Ilbo, Samsung Electronics plans to expand the core project of the P5 1·2 factory (Fab 5·6) in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, from a dual-layer wafer factory to a three-layer wafer factory to respond to the global artificial intelligence semiconductor and memory supercycle and maximize production capacity. Samsung Electronics has recently submitted a plan to change the industrial park, proposing to increase the floor area ratio from 350% to a maximum of 490%. This change must be reviewed by the Gyeonggi Province governor and approved by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's industrial site policy review committee before it can be finalized.The Pyeongtaek P5 1·2 factory is the largest semiconductor factory in the world under a single standard, which began construction in 2022 and aims to be completed by 2030. It will produce high bandwidth memory (HBM), high-end DRAM, next-generation V-NAND, and advanced foundry products. The currently operational Pyeongtaek P4 uses a dual-layer structure with four clean rooms in a single building; if the change is approved, P5 will be configured with up to six clean rooms, and the number of clean rooms and production capacity is expected to increase by about 1.5 times. SK Hynix also plans to use a three-layer structure for all newly constructed wafer factories in the Yongin semiconductor cluster.Market research firm Counterpoint Research expects the global memory market size to increase from approximately 360 trillion won last year to 1,500 trillion won this year and 2,100 trillion won next year. In the context of increasingly difficult access to electricity, water, and land, increasing the floor area ratio to build three-layer wafer factories has become an important path to overcome the physical limitations of limited space and rely on the existing semiconductor industry ecosystem.

According to Reuters, citing informed sources, Samsung Electronics has raised prices for some new advanced foundry service orders by up to 15%, due to a surge in demand for AI chips leading to tight capacity. The company has long lagged behind TSMC in the foundry sector. Demand from Chinese customers is particularly strong, but Samsung must prioritize serving U.S. customers and reserve some capacity to support its own chip production, making it unable to take on all orders. Affected by U.S. export restrictions on advanced chip equipment to China, Chinese companies are increasingly reliant on overseas foundries, with some Chinese customers accepting the maximum price increase.Informed sources stated that Samsung raised the prices for the 4nm (SF4) process in July, with price increases of 10% to 15% for Chinese and U.S. customers, and 5% to 10% for Taiwanese customers; the price for 5nm (SF5) wafers increased by 10% to 15%, nearly 10% higher than the older 8nm process. The SF4 production line at the Pyeongtaek factory has been operating at full capacity since the end of last year, producing logic chips for customers like Qualcomm and providing basic bare chips for Samsung's own HBM. Analysts point out that after TSMC's advanced capacity was fully booked, customers turned to Samsung and Intel, giving Samsung room to raise prices.Samsung's foundry business has been continuously losing money since 2022, but the company expects to quickly turn a profit driven by improved utilization rates, yield improvements, and rising prices. Foundry revenue in the second half of the year is expected to grow by double digits year-on-year, with advanced processes accounting for more than half, and AI and high-performance computing applications accounting for over 30%. Companies like Tesla, Apple, Broadcom, and NVIDIA have already reached relevant cooperation agreements with Samsung, and Google is also in talks to use the SF4 process.

On August 11, the Binance contract platform launched four U-based perpetual contract trading pairs, including Kuaishou (KUAISHOUUSDT), Meituan (MEITUANUSDT), as well as the Southern Eastern SK Hynix Daily Leverage (2X) product (CSOPSKHYNIX2LUSDT) and the Southern Eastern Samsung Electronics Daily Leverage (2X) product (CSOPSAMSUNG2LUSDT). The Kuaishou and Meituan contracts support a maximum leverage of 20 times, while the two Korean semiconductor ETF products support a maximum leverage of 10 times, with a funding rate cap of ±2%, settled every eight hours, supporting a multi-asset model.Among them, CSOPSKHYNIX2LUSDT tracks the Southern Eastern SK Hynix Daily Leverage (2X) product listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (code 7709), and CSOPSAMSUNG2LUSDT tracks the Southern Eastern Samsung Electronics Daily Leverage (2X) product (code 7747), corresponding to the two major storage chip giants SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics with double long exposure. This is Binance's further expansion in the field of traditional asset perpetual contracts, bringing Hong Kong stocks and Korean tech stock leverage products into the crypto derivatives market. Binance reminds users that digital asset prices are highly volatile, and contract trading carries high risks; investors must bear the related risks themselves.

According to South Korean media ZDNet Korea, Samsung Electronics is adjusting the original purpose of its NRD-K Line 2 at the Giheung campus from a research and development facility to a wafer foundry line, with the main target product being the 2nm base chips required for NVIDIA's HBM. This production line is expected to be operational in the second half of 2028, adopting a "Send-Fab" model, which involves receiving wafers from other mass production lines and performing specific processes.NRD-K is the most advanced composite research and development campus built by Samsung Electronics to seize future semiconductor technology, with a total investment of approximately 20 trillion won, planning for three production lines, of which the first line is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2024. This adjustment aims to proactively respond to the expansion of HBM demand driven by investments in AI infrastructure. Samsung plans to first apply the 2nm process to custom HBM and HBM5 to maintain performance advantages.Industry insiders point out that the scale of NRD-K Line 2 is relatively small, making it suitable for operation in the Send-Fab format. However, there are still about two years until the production line is operational, and the final purpose may be adjusted again based on market conditions. Samsung had previously considered using this production line for DRAM production, but after modifications to the relevant plans this month, DRAM capacity will be more concentrated in the Pyeongtaek campus. Equipment procurement orders have not yet been officially issued.

According to Gate market data, the South Korean KOSPI index rose 3.38% in early trading, Samsung Electronics rose 4%, and SK Hynix rose 5%.

According to Gate market data, the Nikkei 225 index closed up 553.84 points on August 12, an increase of 0.83%, reporting at 67,524.06 points.The South Korean KOSPI index also closed up 233.51 points on the same day, an increase of 3.68%, reporting at 6,579.04 points.Chip stocks surged significantly, with Samsung Electronics rising 6.68% and SK Hynix rising 5.54%.

According to a report by South Korea's Asia Economy, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund Temasek has decided to invest in the South Korean stock market for the first time, having selected Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix as investment targets, and is in contact with the South Korean government to discuss the timing of fund execution. Temasek manages assets of approximately 518 billion Singapore dollars (about 572 trillion Korean won), and this investment will be managed internally rather than through external asset management.Temasek believes that the storage semiconductor sector in the AI value chain is undervalued by the market. Recently, it has been increasing its investments in AI-related fields and already holds shares in semiconductor giants such as Nvidia, TSMC, and ASML, and is also one of the major institutional investors in OpenAI and Anthropic. Temasek plans to increase the proportion of AI-related investments from the current 6% to a maximum of 15% over the next five years. If executed smoothly, this will be Temasek's first direct entry into the South Korean stock market.

According to The Elec, Samsung Electro-Mechanics' investment schedule for semiconductor glass substrates has been delayed due to bottlenecks in the reliability assessment of customer prototypes. As a result, the construction schedule for the production line of GlaSSEM, the glass core joint venture between Samsung Electro-Mechanics and Dongyu Fine Chem, has also been postponed, and the timeline for ordering related equipment has become uncertain.The report states that GlaSSEM has failed to communicate the equipment order schedule to its partner manufacturers. Previous orders have been postponed from December last year to March and June this year, and this has happened more than three times. After June, no further schedule guidance has been provided. Industry insiders believe that the main reason is that global communication semiconductor customers have not passed the reliability assessment certification for glass substrate prototypes. Samsung Electro-Mechanics is still producing prototypes at its Sejong plant, and most of the suppliers for key processes required for building the mass production line, such as deposition, etching, laser drilling, and inspection, have already been selected.Since the prototypes need to be remade and resubmitted, the originally planned investment schedule will inevitably be further delayed. Samsung Electro-Mechanics had set a target for mass production in the second half of 2027 when establishing GlaSSEM earlier last month, but during last month's financial report meeting, this timeline was adjusted to 2028, and now the mass production time is expected to be further postponed.

According to ChosunBiz, Samsung Electronics' System LSI Division has introduced Anthropic's AI programming tool Claude Code for semiconductor design and verification work, with some task cycles shortened to less than one-tenth of the original time. In the verification of data connection structures for customer-customized SoCs, work that was originally expected to take over a month was completed in two days; an engineer with two years of experience completed USB device model development and Android driver adaptation in one day using Claude Code, whereas similar work typically required a month.Samsung opened Claude Code to software developers in May this year and later expanded it to the semiconductor professional development field. The System LSI Division has about 6,000 employees, while its main competitor Qualcomm has about 52,000 employees. Samsung is trying to bridge the manpower gap with AI tools. Meanwhile, Samsung's DS Division is promoting an "AI transformation," extending generative AI from research and development to the entire business process, including production, marketing, and support. The report also pointed out that Claude has exhibited behavior in some verification tasks where it disguised erroneous information as ordinary messages or modified design code without authorization. Samsung emphasized the need for strict control and manual review of the scope and results of AI tasks.

Park Chang-min from Samsung Electronics Semiconductor Research Institute's Foundry Process Development Team stated at the "2026 Next Generation Lithography + Patterning Academic Conference" that the company plans to apply High-NA EUV technology starting from the 1-nanometer (A10) process, aiming for mass production around 2030. Samsung is currently still using the existing 0.33 NA EUV multiple patterning scheme for processes at 2 nanometers and below, with plans to achieve mass production of 1.4 nanometers by 2029, and then advance to 1 nanometer.High-NA EUV will increase the lens numerical aperture (NA) from 0.33 to 0.55, providing higher resolution, which can simplify ultra-fine processes that originally required multiple patterning into single patterning, helping to reduce manufacturing costs, improve production efficiency, and enhance design flexibility. However, this technology is highly challenging, equipment is expensive, and it requires simultaneous upgrades in supporting material technologies. Park Chang-min expects that the 1.4 nanometer and 1 nanometer processes will still primarily use 0.33 NA EUV multiple patterning, after which High-NA patterning will become the core technology of the new generation processes.

The South Korean semiconductor sector experienced fluctuations during the trading session, with SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics' stock prices slightly retreating, but the related contract market remained active. According to Gate market data, SK Hynix (000660) reported $1002.56 during the session, down 0.21%; Samsung Electronics (005930) reported $162.15 during the session, down 0.64%. According to CoinGlass data, the SKHYNIX contract open interest reached $693 million, of which the SKHYNIX contract open interest on the Gate platform reached $131 million, ranking second in the entire network; the SAMSUNG contract open interest reached $45.2207 million, of which the SAMSUNG contract open interest on the Gate platform reached $6.19 million, also ranking second in the entire network.

According to Digital Asset, Samsung Electronics plans to introduce stablecoin account opening, overseas remittance, and payment functions in Samsung Wallet in some countries within this year.Subsequent global service expansion will be gradually promoted based on the regulations and market environment of each country.