First Direct Investment in Korean Stocks! Korean Media Reports Temasek Plans to "Buy the Dip" on Samsung and Hynix

Singapore's Sovereign Wealth Fund, Temasek, plans to make its first direct investment in the South Korean stock market, targeting Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. The fund views these two global memory chip giants as severely undervalued targets within the AI value chain.

According to a report by the Korean newspaper The Asia Economy, Temasek has recently contacted the South Korean government regarding investments in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix and is currently evaluating the timing for entry. An official from South Korea's financial regulatory authorities stated that the stock prices of both companies have experienced significant volatility due to the recent approval by the South Korean government for the listing of single-stock leveraged ETFs. It is against this backdrop that Temasek is seeking to confirm a window for capital execution. This will mark Temasek's first direct investment in the South Korean securities market.

This market entry will be conducted through direct investment by internal personnel, rather than being delegated to external asset management firms. Industry insiders interpret this arrangement as reflecting Temasek's high confidence in its judgment, consistent with its longstanding style of committing large-scale capital from a long-term perspective to industries leading the market.

Shares of both Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix surged more than 8% during trading sessions.

Bullish on Memory Chips, Targeting the AI Undervaluation Opportunity

According to reports, Temasek believes that the memory semiconductor sector is the most undervalued segment within the overall AI value chain. The aforementioned industry insider pointed out that although the stock prices of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have cumulatively risen by more than 880% from last year's lows, Temasek remains firmly confident in their subsequent upside potential.

Temasek characterizes AI semiconductors as a long-term growth area driving structural industrial transformation, rather than a short-term trend. Amid rising concerns about overheating in AI investments and a cooling of market sentiment, the fund has instead continued to increase its overall bets on the AI value chain.

In the second quarter of this year, Temasek concentrated its allocation in sectors such as semiconductors, data centers, cloud computing, AI model developers, and software infrastructure. Its goal is to significantly increase the proportion of AI-related investments in its overall portfolio from the current 6% to a maximum of 15% over the next five years.

Already Holds Positions in NVIDIA, TSMC, and ASML

Temasek's 13F filing submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the 7th showed that as of the end of June this year, the fund held shares in NVIDIA, TSMC, and the Dutch semiconductor lithography equipment giant ASML. It is also one of the major institutional investors in generative AI developers OpenAI and Anthropic.

If the direct investment in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix is completed, it will extend Temasek's semiconductor holdings into the memory chip sector, further perfecting its layout across the AI value chain.

Temasek is a state-owned investment company wholly owned by the Singapore Ministry of Finance. As of the end of March this year, its assets under management reached 518 billion Singapore dollars.