SK Hynix's Market Dominance Hangs on Nvidia's Taipei Keynote and US Jobs Data

Two South Korean chipmakers now command more than half the weight of the country's benchmark KOSPI index — a concentration that has turned SK Hynix into a proxy for the entire market. Together with Samsung Electronics, the pair accounts for roughly 52% of KOSPI's market capitalisation, a share worth 3,516 trillion won that eclipses South Korea's nominal gross domestic product of 2,663 trillion won. The May 2026 rally, which sent the KOSPI to a record close of 8,476.15 points last week, was driven almost entirely by the two semiconductor heavyweights, with SK Hynix gaining 4.01% on Friday alone to end at 2,333,000 won — a fresh 52-week high.

That surge has been fuelled by a historic reallocation of capital. Foreign investors pulled a net 44.71 trillion won (roughly $29.7 billion) out of Korean equities in May, marking the longest selling streak since February 2009. Analysts view the exodus as profit-taking — SK Hynix had already returned 1,145% over the previous year. Yet retail investors stepped in with net purchases of 36.09 trillion won, a record for domestic individuals, while new leveraged and inverse ETFs listed on 27 May added further volatility. The Korea Exchange approved 18 such products on SK Hynix and Samsung, and within two days their combined assets under management swelled to 5.02 trillion won, with first-day trading volume hitting 9.8 trillion won.

The immediate catalyst for the week ahead is Nvidia's GTC conference in Taipei, running from 1 to 4 June. CEO Jensen Huang is scheduled to speak live at the Taipei Music Center on 1 June, with the agenda centring on AI, accelerated computing and related technologies. For SK Hynix holders, the focus will be on any signals about the High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) supply chain. The company already commands a 57% market share in HBM and reported a record EBIT margin of 72% in the first quarter of 2026. KB Securities, which raised its price target on SK Hynix to 3.8 million won from 3 million won on 29 May, believes the client memory market is only about 50% supplied and that shortages could persist at least through 2028. The broker described the current cycle as "the 5-kilometre point of a marathon."

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying SK Hynix?

But the market's reaction may hinge less on broad semiconductor enthusiasm than on hard data points around HBM pricing, AI accelerator demand and supply constraints. If Nvidia's keynote reinforces the need for memory-intensive AI infrastructure, SK Hynix should retain its bid. A lack of fresh supply-chain details, however, could leave the stock testing the support zone between 2,289,000 and 2,290,500 won. The 52-week high at 2,379,000 won, touched intraday on Friday, offers an immediate resistance level.

Adding to the macro pressure, the US jobs report on 5 June is expected to show 95,000 new positions and an unemployment rate of 4.3%. For a stock so tightly linked to global risk appetite and AI investment flows, those numbers could determine whether institutional investors add to or trim their semiconductor exposure. The confluence of a record KOSPI close, a pivotal Nvidia event early in the week and a major US data release at the end creates an unusually concentrated set of catalysts.

Beyond the market action, SK Hynix is also entering its annual wage negotiations in June. The union is demanding housing loans of up to 500 million won per employee at an interest rate of 1.5%, modelled on a similar agreement at Samsung Electronics. How management responds could shape internal sentiment for the rest of the year, even as the company's external narrative remains dominated by HBM leadership, price targets and the relentless pull of the AI trade.

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