Even If It's Shaking Now, Estimates Continue to Rise | Kim Taeyeon, Hana Securities Yongsan WM Center Manager

Summary

Kim Tae-won, WM Center Manager at Hana Securities Yongsan, presents a bullish thesis on hard disk drives (HDDs) fueled by AI data storage needs. He argues that cheap, high-capacity HDDs are indispensable for the massive cold data produced by autonomous driving and robotics, while the oligopolistic HDD industry refuses to add capacity due to long-term SSD replacement fears, creating a favorable supply-demand imbalance. He highlights long-term contracts and analyst upgrades for Western Digital and Seagate as reasons the rally has further to go, and briefly advises holding Korean semiconductor leaders to stay engaged with the market.

• Market opens with a strong rebound after the previous day's plunge; KOSPI up 3.8%, KOSDAQ back above 900.
• Guest Kim Tae-won introduces a focused thesis on HDDs as an underappreciated AI storage play.
• AI-driven data explosion from autonomous driving, robots, and logs requires enormous low-cost, high-capacity storage.
• SSDs are too expensive for archival use; HDDs offer a cost-effective, complementary solution.
• HDD industry supply is structurally constrained—manufacturers are reluctant to invest in new capacity.
• Long-term supply agreements with big tech through 2032 provide multi-year demand visibility.
• Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan have raised price targets on Western Digital and Seagate, yet stocks remain in an early uptrend.
• No direct Korean HDD exposure exists; only US-listed Western Digital and Seagate are investable.
• Brief advice to hold Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix for market participation, and to study semiconductor equipment/materials.