Seoul, Jan 18, 2026, 00:24 KST — The market has closed.
- Samsung Electronics ended Friday up 3.47%, closing at 148,900 won after hitting 149,500 during the session
- The Kospi closed at a new record high, driven by gains in semiconductors, while SK hynix climbed as well
- Ahead of Samsung’s Jan. 29 earnings call, investors are grappling with U.S. tariff uncertainty impacting certain AI chips
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. shares closed Friday just shy of 150,000 won, gaining 3.47% to finish at 148,900 won. The stock fluctuated between 144,300 and 149,500 won during the session. Trading volume hit roughly 30.0 million shares, with markets closed over the weekend.
This shift is crucial since Samsung now anchors Seoul’s rally. When Samsung surges, the index follows—drawing even more cash into the already crowded memory chip trade linked to AI investment.
South Korea’s Kospi hit a fresh high of 4,840.74 on Friday, climbing 0.9% and marking its 11th straight session of gains. Foreign and institutional investors snapped up a net 405 billion won and 338.5 billion won in shares, respectively, while retail traders offloaded 938 billion won, Yonhap reported. “Samsung Electronics drove the record surge,” said Lee Jae-won, analyst at Shinhan Securities, citing upbeat signals from TSMC’s growth outlook and the recent U.S.-Taiwan trade agreement. SK hynix also gained 0.93%, closing at 756,000 won. Korea Joongang Daily
The story hasn’t changed: investors continue to pour money into memory chip makers amid growing data centre demand. Morgan Stanley’s Shawn Kim points to tight supply and AI-driven needs as reasons prices won’t drop anytime soon. AI inference alone is set to take a big bite out of DRAM and NAND supplies this year, MarketWatch reported.
Another risk has emerged. South Korea’s trade minister stated Saturday that the U.S. 25% tariff on specific advanced AI chips will have limited immediate effect, since memory chips — the bulk of South Korea’s semiconductor exports — aren’t included for now. However, he cautioned that the next steps remain uncertain.
Samsung has set a firm date for its next big update: the fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Jan. 29, Korea time. Details are available on its investor relations site.
Samsung issued guidance on Jan. 8, though it remains quite general. The company forecasted fourth-quarter operating profit around 20 trillion won, with sales near 93 trillion won, before releasing a detailed breakdown later this month.
Buy-side desks are also watching for technical support from company repurchases. Samsung revealed in a regulatory filing plans to buy back 2.5 trillion won ($1.73 billion) of its shares to compensate employees and executives. These purchases are set to take place between Jan. 8 and April 7, Reuters reported.
Global markets could face a tricky start after the holiday. U.S. stocks and bonds won’t trade Monday, Jan. 19, due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day, with regular hours kicking back in on Tuesday, according to Investopedia.
The rally isn’t without risks. Memory markets are cyclical, and the stock has surged rapidly. Any sign that chip prices have topped out, or that U.S. trade restrictions expand beyond a limited set of AI processors, could spark a swift wave of profit-taking.
Samsung Electronics stock faces its next hurdle Monday at the open, with investors eager to see if momentum holds. All eyes will then shift to Jan. 29, when management is set to discuss memory pricing, output of high-bandwidth memory (HBM)—a top-tier DRAM used in AI servers—and potential fallout from U.S. policy changes.
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