The focus of the AI rally is shifting from leading stocks to memory, storage, and power infrastructure. This is a significant signal for major Korean semiconductor companies like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, as well as their downstream value chains. [Photo Credit: Hanmiilbo]This week, the signal for the Korean stock market to watch was not Nvidia, but memory.

The strength of Micron, Sandisk, and Seagate is directly linked to major Korean semiconductor companies and the storage value chain.

The AI rotation is expanding from leading GPU stocks to HBM, SSDs, power equipment, and data center infrastructure.

This week's trend is dubbed "Memory Revaluation Post-Nvidia."

In this week's US tech stock movements, the most important takeaway for the Korean stock market is not the fact that Nvidia's stock paused.

More importantly, after Nvidia's earnings report, market interest has spread to memory and storage.

If Nvidia is the leading AI stock, the key link for the Korean stock market is memory and high-bandwidth memory (HBM), handled by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

Therefore, this week's stock movements were not just news about overseas tech stocks for Korean investors, but clues to the direction of major domestic semiconductor stocks.

This week's Stock Radar has one question.

Is the AI rally over, or is the Korean semiconductor sector entering a more direct beneficiary phase? This week's trend leans towards the latter.

Nvidia faced profit-taking pressure despite strong earnings and a share buyback plan. However, Micron, Sandisk, and Seagate showed strong performance.

 As AI data centers grow, it's not just computational chips that are needed. More data needs to be stored, retrieved faster, and more memory needs to be installed. This is where the role of Korean semiconductor companies expands.

Three structures were confirmed in this week's stock movements.

First, although Nvidia paused, AI investment has not faltered.

The fact that the stock didn't rise despite good earnings doesn't mean the earnings were bad. It means market expectations were already high.

Investors are now looking beyond just Nvidia and searching for the next bottleneck in overall AI facility investment. If that bottleneck is in memory, storage, power, cooling, or networking, opportunities for the Korean stock market also broaden.

Second, memory and storage are the most direct signals for the domestic stock market.

The strength of Micron is linked to investor sentiment towards Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

The strength of Sandisk and Seagate demonstrates the expansion of demand for SSDs and data storage devices. AI servers require fast processing of large amounts of data, so demand for HBM and high-performance storage devices is bound to increase simultaneously.

In the Korean market, HBM supply capabilities, NAND recovery, and the price trend of server DRAM will be key areas to monitor next week.

Third, the AI value chain is expanding to include power equipment and data center infrastructure.

AI data centers do not operate solely on semiconductors. They require power supply, transformers, cooling systems, communication networks, and server equipment in conjunction.

Therefore, an approach that only focuses on major semiconductor stocks is insufficient in the Korean stock market. To understand the breadth of AI infrastructure rotation, one must also consider companies related to power facilities, cables, cooling, and data centers.

The sharp rise in quantum computing-related stocks this week was also notable. IBM, IonQ, Rigetti Computing, and D-Wave Quantum showed strong movements. However, quantum computing is an area with low commercialization speed and unclear earnings visibility.

From a Korean stock market perspective, it's important to differentiate this from the semiconductor, power, and data center value chains, which have more immediate earnings connectivity.

In other words, quantum computing is a thematic expectation, while memory and power infrastructure represent more realistic earnings connections.

The trend in consumer stocks served as a counterpoint warning.

Walmart saw a sharp decline despite solid earnings due to concerns about future consumption slowdown. This indicates that high oil prices and inflation are pressuring US consumption.

In the Korean stock market, the divergence between export-oriented large-cap stocks and domestic consumption stocks may widen. While AI infrastructure and semiconductors are strong, consumer goods and distribution-related stocks may face pressure in this market.

In conclusion, this week's stock market saw a shift in interest from the sole dominance of leading AI stocks to the downstream value chains directly connected to Korean semiconductors.

The key for the Korean stock market is not whether Nvidia's stock paused for a day. It is more important whether the rotation is expanding to memory, storage, and power infrastructure.

Next week's observation points are threefold.

First, the extent to which Micron's strength is reflected in the stock prices of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

Second, whether expectations for HBM, SSDs, and server DRAM extend to domestic equipment and materials stocks.

Third, whether the AI infrastructure rotation extends to power equipment and data center-related stocks.

※ This article is for reference analysis to help understand stock movements, not investment recommendations. Mentioned stocks and sectors are not purchase or sale recommendations, and actual stock prices may vary depending on earnings, interest rates, exchange rates, supply and demand, and policy variables.