Sell-on after NVIDIA earnings announcement? Will Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, ahead of HBM4 adoption, really put an end to the monopoly? | CEO Park Jun-young

Summary

CEO Park Jun-young discusses the investment landscape ahead of NVIDIA's earnings, noting that sky-high expectations may limit near-term upside for the AI giant. He analyzes the shifting dynamics in the memory semiconductor market, arguing that Samsung Electronics is poised to overtake SK Hynix's dominance in the upcoming HBM4 cycle while benefiting more from conventional DRAM price hikes. Additionally, he highlights opportunities in Japanese advanced packaging supply chains and high-margin Korean semiconductor materials over traditional equipment makers.

• NVIDIA's consistently massive earnings beats have normalized market expectations, potentially capping post-earnings stock surges.
• Capital may rotate toward recently corrected big tech peers like Microsoft for better near-term upside.
• Samsung Electronics is favored over SK Hynix due to its internal logic die capabilities for HBM4 and larger capacity for conventional DRAM.
• The transition to larger AI chips like Rubin is driving structural demand for advanced ABF substrates and testing equipment.
• Japanese semiconductor equipment and materials ETFs offer a practical way to invest in global packaging leaders like Advantest and Ibiden.
• Korean semiconductor materials and consumable parts suppliers are preferred over equipment makers due to their higher margins and direct leverage to rising fab utilization.
• Niche Korean equipment makers with TSMC exposure, such as Hanmi Semiconductor and HPSP, remain attractive exceptions to the domestic capex cycle.