Korea-Focused KORU ETF Dips On KOSPI Drag: Samsung, SK Hynix Extend Selloff Into US Big Tech Earnings Week

• South Korea’s KOSPI, as well as Samsung stock, fell 4.3% each, while SK Hynix shares were down 4%
• Citigroup downgraded the South Korean market to ‘neutral’ due to chip volatility.
• Investors are turning their focus to U.S. tech earnings, with Intel kicking off the reporting on Wednesday.

Korean stocks tumbled again on Monday, led by declines in chip giants Samsung and SK Hynix, setting the stage for another bout of the recent yo-yo trade, where weakness in Korean chip stocks spills over to U.S. semiconductor names and back again, ahead of a key week of U.S. tech earnings. 

South Korea’s Kospi as well as Samsung stock fell 4.3% each, while SK Hynix shares were down 4% in local afternoon time. The two stocks together account for roughly 60% of the Kospi’s market capitalization, making it one of the most concentrated major equity indices in the world.

SK Hynix's U.S. listed stock declined 0.3% in the overnight session. As of the last close, they have declined by about 10% from the opening price on the first day of trading on Jul. 10. 

The Direxion Daily South Korea Bull 3X Shares (KORU), a three-times leveraged ETF tracking South Korea’s largest stocks, was down 2%. U.S. memory stocks Micron and SanDisk were holding in the green, rebounding after a dismal weekly performance.

Citi Downgrades Korean Market 

Citigroup on Monday downgraded the South Korean market to “neutral,” ending an overweight stance held since mid-2025 due to heightened market volatility, according to a report in South China Morning Post.

The move was driven by extreme volatility in chip stocks and a reduced exposure to AI-themed trades. The firm added that it remains long-term bullish on AI, but has turned more cautious on Korea in the near term.

Tech Stocks Rotation

Since the start of July, investors have been rotating out of semiconductor and AI infrastructure names and back into large-cap technology and software stocks, marking a shift after months of chip-led gains. 

Memory makers such as Micron, Samsung and SK Hynix, along with other AI hardware suppliers, have come under pressure as investors question whether the explosive AI infrastructure spending can continue at the same pace. 

Meanwhile, money has flowed into software and Big Tech names – including Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Meta – as investors seek companies that are better positioned to monetize AI through applications and services rather than infrastructure alone. 

Tech Earnings In Focus

The rotation also reflects profit-taking in richly valued chip stocks ahead of earnings season. Alphabet will be the first of the tech majors to report this season, with its announcement scheduled for Wednesday, followed by Intel the next day.

GOOGL has gained 11% year to date, while INTC rallied 156%, underscoring how investors piled into chip stocks in 2026. Investors will closely watch for signs that AI-driven demand remains resilient and whether company outlooks justify the sector’s outsized gains.

On Stocktwits, retail traders’ views were ‘bullish’ on KORU and SKHY. “Big tech will reiterate their spend or even up their capex for this and next year. Memory is still a bottleneck. SKHY is the king of memory, and  DDR5 is way more profitable than HBM4,” a trader posted on the SKHY stream.

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