SK Hynix shares surge 11% as Asian chip stocks rally on AI optimism

SK Hynix shares surged more than 11% on Wednesday, leading a broad rally in Asian technology stocks as investors returned to semiconductor shares following an overnight rebound on Wall Street.

The South Korean memory chipmaker recovered after suffering its biggest-ever one-day decline earlier this week, when investors took profits amid concerns over AI-related spending. Rival Samsung Electronics also climbed 6.8%, while Seoul Semiconductor gained 6.4%.

Wall Street rebound lifts Asian chipmakers

The rally extended across Japan's semiconductor sector, with Advantest rising 4.2%, Lasertec gaining 6.4%, Disco advancing 2.8%, Tokyo Electron adding 0.9% and SoftBank Group edging up 0.8%. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. also traded 0.4% higher.

The gains followed a recovery in US semiconductor stocks, where the VanEck Semiconductor ETF rose 2.5%. Micron Technology and Lam Research each gained about 5%, while Applied Materials and Teradyne climbed more than 3%.

Investors warn AI enthusiasm may be overheating

Despite the rebound, some market participants cautioned that enthusiasm for AI-related hardware stocks could be becoming excessive.

Jordan Cvetanovski, chairman and chief investment officer at Pella Funds, said demand for AI infrastructure remains strong as companies continue expanding computing capacity, but recent market volatility suggests speculative behaviour may be increasing.

He added that hardware companies remain the biggest beneficiaries of the AI investment boom, with growing demand likely to keep supply tight, particularly for memory chipmakers.