Asian chip stocks rally ahead of Samsung earnings, SK Hynix ADR launch

Asian semiconductor stocks surged on Monday as investors positioned ahead of two catalysts set to define the week: Samsung Electronics' preliminary second-quarter earnings report, due Tuesday, and SK Hynix's landmark American depositary receipt bookbuilding launch on the Nasdaq ↗ 0.99%.

Samsung shares jumped more than 4% in Seoul trading, while SK Hynix also gained as the KOSPI climbed as much as 2.71%. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 held above 70,000 points, a level it first breached in June amid the broader AI-driven rally across Asian markets.

Samsung's Earnings in Focus

Samsung is expected to report an operating profit of approximately 86 trillion won ($56 billion) for the April-June quarter, an 18-fold increase from a year earlier, according to an LSEG SmartEstimate based on forecasts from 30 analysts. The result would mark a third consecutive quarter of record operating profit, driven by soaring memory chip prices as demand for AI inference infrastructure outstrips supply. Analysts expect the memory market to remain undersupplied at least through next year.reuters

The chipmaker posted record first-quarter revenue of 133.9 trillion won and operating profit of 57.2 trillion won earlier this year, and consensus estimates point to further acceleration in the second quarter, with revenue forecast at roughly 169.4 trillion won.phemex+1

SK Hynix ADR Listing and Hon Hai Sales

SK Hynix, the world's second-largest memory chipmaker, is set to begin its ADR bookbuilding process on Monday ahead of a planned Nasdaq debut on July 10, in what could raise up to $29.4 billion — one of the largest listings globally. The proceeds will fund new chip factories in South Korea and equipment purchases, including extreme ultraviolet scanners from ASML ↘ 0.19%. BofA Securities, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ↘ 1.38%, and JPMorgan ↘ 0.73% are managing the offering.cnbc+1

Sentiment was further bolstered over the weekend by Hon Hai Precision Industry, better known as Foxconn, which reported June revenue of NT$821.8 billion ($25.7 billion), up 52.1% year-over-year and a record for the month. Second-quarter revenue rose 39.8% to NT$2.51 trillion, beating market forecasts on strong AI server demand.dailysabah+2

Nvidia Delay Clouds Outlook

Not all the news was supportive. A report from semiconductor analysis firm SemiAnalysis flagged that the launch of Nvidia's ↘ 1.47% next-generation Kyber NVL144 rack-scale AI server, featuring Rubin Ultra chips, has been pushed back more than 12 months to 2028 due to difficulties mass-producing multilayer printed circuit boards. The news sent some Asian tech stocks sliding late last week, with Japanese PCB maker Ibiden and Hong Kong's Kingboard Laminates falling more than 10% intraday.sedaily

The divergence leaves investors watching Samsung's Tuesday earnings call as a critical test of whether AI-driven chip demand can sustain the KOSPI's rally — an index that has more than doubled since the start of 2025.reuters