Memory Stocks Lead Japan and South Korea Markets; Nikkei 225 Hits 55,000 Mark; KOSPI Break 5,900, Triggering Circuit Breakers

TradingKey - During the Asian trading session on Wednesday, March 18, Japanese and South Korean stocks rose across the board, with the Nikkei 225 Index climbing above the 55,000-point mark, a gain of 2.6%. The South Korean benchmark KOSPI Index surged 4.6%, breaking through 5,900 points. Due to KOSPI 200 futures rising by more than 5%, the Korea Exchange triggered a circuit breaker for the KOSPI Index, and program trading was suspended for five minutes.

Memory stocks generally rose. In the Japanese market, Kioxia rose over 6%, Tokyo Electron rose over 3%, and Advantest gained over 6%. Among South Korean heavyweights, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both surged over 7%.

The rally in the semiconductor sectors of Japan and South Korea was primarily driven by the performance of the U.S. stock market the previous night. On the 17th, U.S. chip stocks rose broadly, and Micron Technology (MU) 's market capitalization surpassed $500 billion at the close for the first time, making it one of the 16 most valuable companies in the S&P 500. Just two months ago, Micron had first crossed the $400 billion market cap threshold. SanDisk (SNDK) , Western Digital (WDC) , Seagate (STX) and other stocks also reached new highs.

Micron announced after-hours on Monday that its HBM4 chips for NVIDIA's (NVDA) next-generation Vera Rubin AI platform have entered mass production, dispelling market concerns about its ability to become a supplier. SK Hynix Chairman Chey Tae-won said on Monday that the global chip wafer shortage is expected to continue until 2030, with the shortage potentially exceeding 20%. Samsung Electronics stated that robust chip demand driven by AI will last until 2026. Currently, only Micron, SK Hynix, and Samsung Electronics are capable of producing HBM4 chips.