[Edaily Reporter Kwon Oh Seok ] Amid a favorable trend in artificial intelligence (AI), the securities industry has been successively revising its third-quarter earnings estimates upward, and investor sentiment toward SamsungElectronics(005930)and SK hynix(000660)is expected to remain positive following the Chuseok holiday. Meanwhile, for SamsungElectronics, the possibility of a stock price decline following the ex-dividend date on the 29th, and for SK hynix, the push for a U.S. IPO by its subsidiary Solidigm, are among the individual issues at play; in addition, the direction of regulations following the U.S.-China summit is emerging as a key variable.

According to financial information provider FnGuide Inc. on the 27th, as of the 21st, the securities industry’s third-quarter operating profit estimate for SamsungElectronics was revised upward by 5% over the past three months, from 105.903 trillion won to 111.3772 trillion won. During the same period, SK hynix’s third-quarter operating profit estimates also rose by 2%, from 76.9134 trillion won to 78.1291 trillion won. Sustained global demand for AI server memory and enhanced competitiveness in High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) are cited as the main factors raising earnings expectations.
Park Yeon-ju, Head of the AI Research Center at MIRAE ASSET SECURITIES, analyzed, “While the pace of AI adoption and investment is currently proceeding faster than expected, semiconductor supply is failing to keep up, making it highly likely that the semiconductor boom will continue in the medium term.” She added, “In particular, Korean semiconductor companies offer attractive valuations compared to their global counterparts, and their global competitiveness is expected to improve through the massive cash flows generated over the next three to four years, making them highly attractive to investors.”
On the international front, the outcome of the U.S.-China summit partially alleviated market uncertainty. At the U.S.-China summit held at the White House on the 24th, the two sides failed to reach any significant agreements beyond establishing a hotline to notify each other in the event of an AI incident. However, this is viewed positively as it has averted the risk of a sharp deterioration in U.S.-China relations.
Center Director Park explained, “Global supply and demand are more important for South Korea’s semiconductor industry,” adding, “The key will be whether AI investment continues and whether trends in actual AI demand—such as AI token usage—maintain their rapid growth during the Big Tech earnings announcements scheduled for October.” Typically, companies such as Alphabet (Google), Apple, and Microsoft announce their earnings in October.
Yeo Tae-kyung, an analyst at HYUNDAI MOTOR SECURITIES, also noted, “It is positive that the uncertainty surrounding bilateral relations is unlikely to emerge as a risk factor for the economies and stock markets of both countries for the time being.”
Of course, individual issues affecting these two stocks remain key factors influencing their stock price trends.
First, as part of its shareholder return policy totaling 90 trillion to 110 trillion won this year, SamsungElectronics will pay a cash dividend of approximately 30 trillion won in the third quarter. This is a “special dividend” that significantly exceeds the usual quarterly dividend. To receive this dividend, investors must purchase SamsungElectronics or SamsungElectronics Preferred shares by the 28th, when the market reopens after the Chuseok holiday. The record date for the third-quarter dividend is the 30th of this month, and the ex-dividend date is the 29th.
Therefore, caution is advised regarding short-term purchases made solely for the purpose of receiving the dividend. In particular, on the ex-dividend date (the 29th), investors will not be eligible to receive the dividend, so the stock price may theoretically drop by the amount of the dividend. If the decline in the stock price due to the ex-dividend date exceeds the after-tax dividend amount, the overall investment return could actually result in a loss.
In the case of SK hynix, news that its U.S. subsidiary, Solidigm, is pursuing a U.S. stock market listing is seen as a key variable. According to Reuters, Solidigm plans to launch an initial public offering (IPO) in the U.S. as early as next year and recently held a “bake-off”—a meeting to evaluate proposals from investment banks (IBs) to serve as lead underwriters for the IPO. Solidigm is a U.S. subsidiary established in 2021 when SK hynix acquired Intel’s NAND and solid-state drive (SSD) business units.
Solidigm’s market capitalization is expected to reach up to $150 billion (approximately 203 trillion won) upon its listing. Some observers have raised concerns that the listing of this subsidiary could dilute the investment appeal of SK hynix.
Lee Young-gon, an analyst at Toss Securities, stated, “The spin-off and IPO of Solidigm is an issue that is disadvantageous to existing SK hynix shareholders. If Solidym goes public separately, the value of the business that was previously consolidated into SK hynix will be assessed as a separate listed company,” he emphasized, adding, “In the past, most of the profits and cash flows generated by Solidym were consolidated into SK hynix, but after the separate listing, SK hynix will have to share that economic value with external shareholders.”