On January 27, China’s artificial intelligence model DeepSeek shocked the world by demonstrating AI models of similar competence as the world’s leading AI models such as those from OpenAI while requiring significantly less computing power.
South Korea was not spared from the global tech sell-off that followed. KRX Semiconductors KRX 반도체, the index for all 55 semiconductor-related stocks listed in South Korean stock markets, lost over KRW 40t (USD 27.2b) in market capitalization in just two trading days between January 24 and February 3, after the South Korean stock exchange returned from the lunar new year holidays.
SK Hynix SK 하이닉스, maker of high bandwidth memory chips for Nvidia, was the hardest hit, losing KRW 15.9t (USD 10.8b) in market cap in two trading days.