[DigitalToday reporter Sangyeop Oh (오상엽)] Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, South Korea’s leading semiconductor stocks, hit record highs on Feb. 24. Samsung Electronics climbed to 200,000 won for the first time. SK Hynix also rose above 1 million won for the first time, becoming a so-called “emperor stock.”

Samsung Electronics hit 200,000 won in intraday trading at about 1:05 p.m., setting a record high. It has risen for seven consecutive sessions since closing at 165,800 won on Feb. 10. SK Hynix also jumped more than 5 percent intraday to as high as 1,003,000 won, marking a new record.

The KOSPI showed weakness early in the session on the back of a sharp fall in U.S. technology stocks, but turned higher intraday as buying led by institutional investors flowed in.

Expectations of a semiconductor supercycle driven by the spread of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure are seen as lifting share prices, despite geopolitical risks such as tariff uncertainty stemming from U.S. President Donald Trump.

A shortage of AI memory such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and general-purpose DRAM has sent prices soaring. Samsung Electronics, which has dominant production capacity in the industry, is expected to be the biggest beneficiary.

BlackRock Fund Advisors, the world’s largest asset manager, added support by disclosing on Feb. 20 that it had secured a 5 percent stake in SK Hynix.