Is Korea’s AI opportunity bigger than semiconductors?

At an exclusive session for Moomoo Private Wealth clients, experts from Hana Asset Management and Hana Securities shared their views on Korea’s evolving AI investment opportunity—and the conversation extended well beyond the familiar memory-chip story.

The key question for investors:

Can Korea’s AI beneficiaries sustain earnings growth long enough to narrow their valuation discount versus global peers?

Here are four key takeaways:

1. Samsung Electronics and SK hynix remain central to the AI-memory buildout

• AI infrastructure is driving demand for high-performance memory, particularly HBM and DRAM. SK hynix’s HBM leadership and growing exposure to ASIC-related demand, alongside Samsung’s potential upside from conventional DRAM pricing and HBM share gains, position both companies as key AI beneficiaries. Their shareholder-return programmes could provide additional support for investor sentiment.

2. The next AI bottleneck may be power—not compute

• Data centres can be built relatively quickly; new power generation, grid connections and nuclear capacity often take far longer. This mismatch is expanding the AI investment universe to include grid equipment, power management, energy storage systems, gas turbines, nuclear supply chains, solar materials and fuel cells.

• Korean companies such as LS ELECTRIC, Doosan Enerbility, Samsung SDI and OCI Holdings are increasingly part of the broader AI-infrastructure conversation.

3. Valuation upside depends on sustainability

• Korean AI beneficiaries may still trade at a discount to global peers. A meaningful re-rating will depend on sustained memory pricing, long-term customer contracts, continued hyperscaler capital expenditure and successful delivery of AI-related infrastructure projects.

4. Korea’s opportunity set extends beyond technology

Korea’s industrial capabilities could offer further ways to participate in the AI era:

• Shipbuilding: floating data centres, LNG infrastructure and offshore-power solutions

• Defence: rising export opportunities in Europe and potential air-defence demand in the Middle East

• Nuclear: an integrated supply chain that could be strategically important as countries seek reliable baseload power for AI-driven electricity demand

The takeaway:

Korea may offer a differentiated AI investment proposition—not only through memory semiconductors, but also through the power, industrial and strategic manufacturing capacity required to support the next phase of AI adoption.

By bringing together Hana’s on-the-ground expertise with to our Moomoo Private Wealth’s investment community, clients gained insight into the catalysts, valuation case and risks that could shape Korea’s AI beneficiaries—helping them look beyond headline AI names and identify where the next phase of investment may emerge.

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