Musk faults Samsung and SK hynix chip pricing; shares trail KOSPI

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has publicly criticized the way Samsung Electronics and SK hynix set prices for memory chips, The Korea Times reported on Oct 18. Musk also questioned how much control the two Korean companies have over prices. He pointed to a surge in Chinese supply of DRAM, the main working memory in servers, PCs and phones, that he expects in 2028, DigiTimes reported. That report was published at 16:43 KST on Oct 19, after the Seoul market had closed.

According to The Korea Times, a prominent U.S. chip analyst answered that the complaint runs against market realities. His argument was that a maker charging less than the going rate would see its output taken at once, which would leave its other customers short of chips.

SK hynix alone is a fifth of the KOSPI 200

The two companies dominate Korea’s stock market. On Oct 19, SK hynix made up 21.26% of the KOSPI 200’s total market value, with a market value of about 932.8 trillion won. A fund that tracks Korean large caps therefore carries a heavy bet on memory chips, and on the prices the two makers charge for them.

Export prices up 247.72% in a year

Korea’s DRAM export price index from the Bank of Korea, measured in US dollars with 2020 as 100, stood at 289.16 in September 2026. That was 247.72% higher than a year earlier and 96.12% higher than in January. The index tracks the country’s export prices as a whole, not either company’s own prices.

The higher prices have shown up in Samsung’s profit. On Oct 8, the company filed a preliminary estimate of 107.4 trillion won in third-quarter operating profit on revenue of 195 trillion won. Operating profit was up 782.5% from a year earlier and was the highest in at least six quarters.

Small gains after a month of losses

On Monday, Oct 19, the first session after the weekend, SK hynix rose 0.39% to 1,277,000 won (about US$959.93) from 1,272,000 won on Friday, Oct 16, and Samsung Electronics rose 1.16% to 218,000 won (about US$163.87) from 215,500 won. Both trailed the KOSPI, which gained 1.76% to 5,768.01. From Sep 22 to Oct 19, SK hynix fell 30.6% and Samsung 21.16%. SK hynix is down 20.44% over five sessions, including a sharp drop on Oct 15, and Samsung had its own steep fall on Oct 16. For more on the index’s swings, see why the KOSPI is so volatile.

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SK hynix holds its third-quarter earnings conference call on Oct 28 at 09:00 KST. Samsung Electronics holds its call on Oct 29 at 10:00 KST.

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Information only, not investment advice.