A Completely Different Phase in the AI Era, Token Payments Will Dominate

A Completely Different Phase in the AI Era," Token Payments Will Dominate | Ko Tae-hoon, Head of Asset Management Plus [Double Up]
Watch on YouTube ↗  |  May 21, 2026 at 01:34  |  18:34  |  3PRO TV (삼프로TV)
Speakers
Ko Tae-hoon — Head of Asset Management Plus (S+ Asset Management)

Summary

Ko Tae-hoon discusses NVIDIA's earnings, tokenization of AI services as a game-changer, and portfolio implications. He favors Alphabet among US Big Tech and sees SK Hynix as a better memory play than Samsung. Token usage growth is highlighted as the key leading indicator for AI investment decisions.

  • NVIDIA reported strong earnings and guidance, but concerns about competition and capex sustainability remain.
  • The shift from subscription to token-based pricing models for AI services is a structural change that benefits Big Tech cloud providers.
  • Token consumption growth (60-70% QoQ for Google) is a powerful leading indicator for AI demand.
  • Alphabet is Ko's preferred Big Tech pick due to TPU, cloud momentum, and Gemini model ownership.
  • SK Hynix is seen as a more attractive pure-play memory stock than Samsung due to valuation and labor risks.
  • Ko recommends overweighting US Big Tech and Korean memory semiconductors together in a portfolio.
  • Samsung Electronics remains a core holding but near-term valuation re-rating is challenging due to rapid earnings growth.
  • The labor strike at Samsung adds near-term uncertainty, benefiting SK Hynix relatively.
Trade Ideas
Ko Tae-hoon Head of Asset Management Plus (S+ Asset Management) 5:14
Alphabet has multiple structural advantages over peers.
Ko prefers Alphabet (GOOGL) among the Magnificent Seven because it owns its own TPU custom chip for inference, cloud revenue growth is accelerating and gaining share, it possesses the frontier model Gemini, offering a lock-in advantage through bundled services, and its valuation is cheap compared to other AI value chain participants. This combination gives Alphabet a differentiated edge over Amazon and Microsoft, which rely on third-party models.
GOOGL HIGH
Ko Tae-hoon Head of Asset Management Plus (S+ Asset Management) 15:30
SK Hynix is a cleaner memory play with less labor risk.
Ko views SK Hynix as more advantageous than Samsung Electronics because it is a pure-play memory (HBM/DRAM) company, allowing a higher valuation multiple, and it faces less disruption from labor strikes, unlike Samsung which has complex business lines and ongoing union tensions. SK Hynix benefits directly from AI-driven memory demand growth.
000660.KS MED
Ko Tae-hoon Head of Asset Management Plus (S+ Asset Management) 16:48
Overweight US Big Tech and Korean memory on token growth.
Ko argues that token usage growth is a critical leading indicator for AI demand. As Big Tech's token consumption accelerates (e.g., Google's API token volume rising 60-70% quarter-on-quarter), it directly drives revenue growth for cloud providers and memory demand. Therefore, investors should overweight US Big Tech and domestic Korean memory semiconductor stocks (Samsung, SK Hynix) as a portfolio strategy.
US Big Tech Korean memory semiconductor stocks HIGH
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This 3PRO TV (삼프로TV) video, published May 21, 2026, features Ko Tae-hoon discussing GOOGL, 000660.KS, US Big Tech, Korean memory semiconductor stocks. 3 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.

Speakers: Ko Tae-hoon  · Tickers: GOOGL, 000660.KS, US Big Tech, Korean memory semiconductor stocks