Samsung and SK Hynix fall in Seoul despite US chip rally

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix fell Tuesday in Seoul despite a rebound in U.S. semiconductor stocks, with SK Hynix down 3.6% and Samsung down 1.5%, while the KOSPI dropped 3.2%. Foreign investors sold 605.8 billion won ($456 million) of KOSPI shares by mid-Tuesday, outweighing domestic purchases, and had withdrawn over 11 trillion won the prior week. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 1.61% Monday, breaking an eight-day losing streak, but Korean memory makers did not follow. SK Hynix faces additional pressure from a potential U.S. IPO of its Solidigm storage unit, which regulators said could violate minority shareholder protections. Analysts note a 0.6 rolling correlation between KOSPI and U.S. chip benchmarks, suggesting a possible rebound if U.S. momentum holds, though concerns about AI margin sustainability persist.