CONTRIBUTORS
Christy Tan
Managing Director
Senior Investment Strategist
Franklin Templeton Institute
South Korea remains one of Asia’s most compelling equity stories, but it is no longer a simple “buy the index” market. The rally has been powered by an artificial intelligence (AI)-led semiconductor earnings cycle, political stabilization and strong retail participation. Yet the recent selloff, together with MSCI’s decision to keep South Korea within its emerging markets classification, is a reminder that the upside is real, but so are the structural limits.
This is a tale of the peacock and the horangi, with the glittering semiconductor champions on one side, and the sleeping Korean tiger on the other.
The peacock is easy to see. The memory supercycle is undeniable, and AI-driven demand for high-bandwidth memory has transformed the earnings outlook. Samsung’s 2026 EBIT consensus has reportedly moved from roughly +137% year-on-year at the start of the year to around +700% year-on-year today.1 But investors should resist treating Samsung and SK Hynix as interchangeable AI proxies. SK Hynix remains better positioned in high-bandwidth-memory leadership, while Samsung’s execution gap is still a key differentiator.
The issue is that the index has become increasingly narrow. Samsung and SK Hynix now account for around 53% of South Korea’s KOSPI, and stripping them out, the rest of the market returned only about 5% in May, versus 29% for the overall index.2 That is not broad market strength; it is concentrated semiconductor momentum.
And therein lies the sleeping horangi. Beneath the index giants, much of ‘Korea Inc.’ remains deeply undervalued. Around two-thirds of listed companies trade below book value, and roughly 41% trade below 0.5 times book.3 This is where I think the more interesting medium-term opportunity may sit: not in chasing crowded mega-cap semiconductors, but in identifying well-capitalised, quality companies that have yet to be re-rated.
The opportunity set extends beyond chips. Defence, shipbuilding, nuclear, robotics, power equipment and other beneficiaries of US reindustrialisation and global supply-chain investment offer cleaner exposure to Korea’s strategic relevance. These sectors allow investors to participate in the country’s rising geopolitical and industrial importance without relying entirely on semiconductor momentum.
Portfolio discipline is now essential. The recent volatility showed how quickly single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds and derivatives can turn normal profit-taking into forced mechanical selling. Korea’s leveraged retail flows have become a market structure risk, not just a sentiment indicator. That argues for smaller position sizes, staged entry points, tighter risk controls and hedges around crowded semiconductor holdings.
The bottom line: South Korean equities still deserve attention, but the playbook is changing. Own the peacock selectively but start looking for the horangi.
Endnotes
- EBIT=earnings before interest and taxes. Source: Asset Value Investors / AVI Global Trust May 2026 newsletter, “Beyond Memory: AVI’s Korea Opportunity Capital IQ. As of May 2026.
- Source: MarketWatch, June 18, 2026. Asset Value Investors as of May 2026. The KOSPI (Korea Composite Stock Price Index) is the primary benchmark stock market index of South Korea, tracking all common shares traded on the main board of the Korea Exchange. Indexes are unmanaged and one cannot directly invest in them. They do not include fees, expenses or sales charges. Past performance is not an indicator or a guarantee of future results.
- Source: Asset Value Investors, Capital IQ. As of May 2026. The Korea Times, as of June 25, 2026.
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