Chip stocks sink in KOSPI rout as SK hynix gains DRAM share

Korea’s two memory makers made news three ways on Nov 5. Their shares fell hard on a day the whole market slumped, new figures showed SK hynix’s share of DRAM sales rising, and a sixth union began forming at Samsung Electronics.

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Both memory stocks fall harder than the market

SK hynix closed at 1,264,000 won (about US$941.81) on Nov 5. That was 9.46% below its Nov 4 close of 1,396,000 won. Samsung Electronics ended at 201,500 won (about US$150.14), down 7.57% from 218,000 won. Both lost more than the TIGER 200 ETF, a fund that tracks the KOSPI 200 index of large Korean companies, which dropped 5.78% in the same session.

The KOSPI itself closed at 5,383.8, a fall of 5.28%. Circuit breakers, which pause trading after a sharp drop, were triggered during the session, The Chosun Daily reported. The Chosun Daily also said the major indexes had their worst declines in months. It linked the slide to worries over chip demand that it said were stirred up by the U.S. midterm elections.

The weakness showed up early. By 08:49 KST, shares of both companies were already lower, JoongAng Daily reported. According to JoongAng Daily, the Kospi could not recover after the Democrats swept the U.S. midterms, and traders were waiting to see how Wall Street would react.

By 11:07 KST, Maeil Business Newspaper reported that the two chipmakers were plunging. Maeil Business Newspaper pointed to concerns over regulation of data centers in the United States.

SK hynix’s slice of DRAM sales grows

Samsung remained the largest DRAM maker by revenue in the third quarter of 2026, with 38% of the global total, JoongAng Daily and Seoul Economic Daily reported. DRAM is the working memory used in computers, phones and servers. According to the same two outlets, SK hynix’s share climbed to 29%.

Seoul Economic Daily said that left the two companies 9 percentage points apart, a narrower gap than before.

BusinessKorea reported that the global DRAM market had grown nearly fivefold. It credited bigger spending on AI data centers and higher memory prices.

JoongAng Daily offered a view on China. It wrote that supplies of premium HBM4 chips could squeeze CXMT, a Chinese memory maker. HBM4 is the latest generation of high-bandwidth memory, the stacked DRAM placed next to AI processors. The view is JoongAng Daily’s own assessment.

SK hynix’s own figures show how much its business has grown. In a filing on Oct 28, the company reported preliminary consolidated third-quarter revenue of 104.6155 trillion won (about US$77.9 billion). That was 31.9% more than in the second quarter and 327.9% more than a year earlier.

A sixth union takes shape at Samsung

A sixth labor union is being set up at Samsung Electronics. Yonhap, Seoul Economic Daily, BusinessKorea, Chosunbiz and JoongAng Daily all reported it on Nov 5.

According to Chosunbiz, the new group is run by people who used to lead the Donghaeng union and a supra-enterprise union, meaning one that organizes workers across several companies. Chosunbiz said the group has filed its paperwork with the labor office in Gumi.

JoongAng Daily and Seoul Economic Daily reported that the proposed union is built around Samsung’s device experience division, which makes the company’s finished products. Seoul Economic Daily said it is taking shape while the union that already represents that division is divided over its leadership.

JoongAng Daily described two sides of that dispute. Labor officials point to alleged disputes over leadership, and the existing union rejects those claims.

Chosunbiz reported a wider divide among Samsung’s unions over the 2027 negotiations and over bonus policy. Bonuses were already an issue. On Oct 22, Pacific Tape reported that a Samsung union was pressing to overhaul chip-division bonuses.

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Information only, not investment advice.