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Kospi tumbles 6% after record rally as AI chip bets unwind in minutes
Economy
Published on 15 May 2026
Foreign investors sold 5.6 trillion won as momentum snapped
South Korea’s Kospi plunged 6% on Friday after a historic rally pushed valuations and positioning to extremes, briefly topping 8,000 for the first time. The rebound had been powered by AI-linked memory-chip demand, concentrated in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. Once foreign investors began booking profits, the decline accelerated because the index’s gains depended heavily on those same stocks. Samsung fell nearly 9% and SK Hynix slid 8%, while global risk concerns and higher bond yields added pressure.
- Kospi sank 6% after briefly crossing 8,000 during morning trade
- Samsung shares slid nearly 9% and SK Hynix dropped about 8%
- Foreign investors sold 5.6 trillion won in one session
- Total weekly foreign outflows reached 14.3 trillion won
- Korea Exchange halted program selling after futures fell over 5%
- Leveraged ETFs and retail borrowing amplified speculative swings
Read the full story at The Economic Times
This summarization was done by Beige for a story published on 
The Economic Times