Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, TSMC drive the AI-hardware rally · JPMorgan: "Taiwan is the most efficient AI exposure"
Global investors and derivatives strategists are pointing to Asia as the next leg of the rally. The KOSPI is up 78% YTD, ranking among the world's top-performing markets this month. Taiwan's TAIEX is on the same wave. The common denominator: the AI hardware supply chain.
"Vol up, spot up" — a once-in-25-years setup
The synchronous KOSPI and TAIEX rally has produced an unusual market structure. Typically when prices rise, volatility (option premiums) falls. Right now both are rising together — the rare "vol up, spot up" regime.
The intensity of this move is producing an extreme reversal vs. the prior trend, and the pattern can continue until a correction shows up.
Junkyun Jeon, Derivatives Analyst, Samsung Securities
Equity-derivatives strategists at JPMorgan and Société Générale are recommending bullish option structures to harvest this regime.
Samsung, SK hynix, TSMC — the beneficiaries
The names benefiting are clear: Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, and TSMC have become the AI-rally core. All three supply HBM memory or leading-edge foundry, both of which are mandatory for AI accelerators. A single Nvidia GPU integrates tens of gigabytes of HBM. As AI data-center demand grows, the orders flowing into these companies grow structurally.
Hardware is the foundation of the AI theme, and Taiwan is the most efficient index-level vehicle for investors to take exposure to that growth.
Why India is left behind — the cost of low AI exposure
Same Asia-Pacific zip code, opposite direction. India's S&P BSE Sensex is down 9.3% YTD, among the world's worst returns. The cause is structural — energy, financials, and consumer staples dominate, while AI-hardware supply-chain names are largely absent. With Middle East geopolitical risk easing and capital concentrating into AI infrastructure, oil-sensitive markets with no AI exposure got left behind. Even within EM, AI supply-chain positioning is what split the returns.
China ETFs see bullish positioning ahead of the Trump-Xi summit
Geopolitics matters too. With AI policy expected to be a headline agenda at the upcoming Trump-Xi summit, investors are adding bullish positions in US-listed China ETFs — iShares China Large-Cap (FXI) is the main target. Interactive Brokers has also started offering US retail investors direct access to Korean stocks, broadening the inflow channel into KOSPI names.
What this says
The KOSPI's 78% move is not a rebound. It reflects where the AI hardware supply chain is concentrated. As long as Samsung and SK hynix supply HBM and TSMC fabricates leading-edge chips, Korea and Taiwan stay at the center of the global AI investment cycle — that is not a short-term setup. The "vol up, spot up" signal in options says there is upside momentum left in the rally; it also says volatility on the eventual correction will be larger.
