AI Investment Isn't Over... Global Cooperation Has Begun

Summary

Lee Kwon-hee, CEO of Wizwave, argues that the AI investment cycle is far from over and the recent semiconductor sell-off is a correction driven by supply-demand dynamics, not a fundamental bust. He highlights the San Francisco AI summit as a signal of deepening global cooperation between Korean industry leaders and U.S. tech giants. Despite near-term volatility, he finds strong free cash flow, historic low valuations, and concrete multi-year contracts for Samsung, SK hynix, and Naver that support a medium-term recovery.

• Semiconductor leaders Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron generate the best free cash flow globally and represent a buying opportunity in the correction.
• Samsung's foundry unit signed a massive 5-year 300 trillion won supply deal with Broadcom, a new growth driver.
• SK hynix secured a 5-year 1,024 trillion won HBM supply agreement with Nvidia, with rising order expectations.
• Naver received a $10 billion investment from Nvidia and Brookfield for a data center, equal to half its market cap.
• SK Telecom is pivoting into AI infrastructure through partnerships with Nvidia, AWS, and Anthropic, warranting close attention.
• Hyundai Motor continues AI-related collaboration with Google and Nvidia, reinforcing its long-term positioning.
• Samsung SDS may see future catalysts from its Anthropic and Claude enterprise rollout, though specifics are absent.
• Korean cosmetics stocks like Silicon2 and APR have fallen to extreme valuation lows despite solid earnings.