According to BlockBeats, on July 22, the AI industry chain boom heated up again, with chip stocks in Japanese and South Korean stock markets surging. South Korean semiconductor giant SK Hynix rose by more than 9% at one point, and Samsung Electronics rose by more than 6%, driving the South Korean KOSPI index up by more than 6% intraday. The Korea Exchange subsequently activated the Sidecar mechanism, suspending programmatic buying of the KOSPI.

Japanese stocks rallied in tandem, with the Nikkei 225 index rising approximately 1.7%, led by chip stocks. Kioxia shares surged over 8%, Rohm Semiconductor rose over 4%, and SoftBank Group gained over 3%.

Overnight, US semiconductor stocks rose across the board, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index closing up 5.21%, and all 30 component stocks advancing. Intel and AMD rose over 8%, Arm rose over 7%, and TSMC ADR rose over 5%. Memory concept stocks performed strongly, with SanDisk rising over 14%, SK Hynix ADR rising over 13%, and Micron Technology and Western Digital rising over 12%.

Market analysts believe that the AI capital expenditure cycle is not over, and demand for data center construction, computing power, storage, and network infrastructure remains strong. Recent improvements in Asian export data and price increases by manufacturers such as TSMC have further strengthened market confidence in the demand for the AI industry chain.

According to BlockBeats, on July 22, South Korean investors recently bucked the trend and increased their holdings of Chinese technology assets. Data shows that from July 13 to July 19, South Korean funds heavily bought Chinese A-share technology stocks, with Cambricon, a leading AI computing power company, topping the list of South Korean A-share investors with a net weekly purchase of $2.8577 million.

According to data from SEIBro, a securities information portal under the Korea Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation, during the same period, core Chinese semiconductor companies such as SMIC, Montage Technology, Hua Hong Grace, and AMEC also received net purchases of millions of US dollars from South Korean funds.

Looking at the past month (June 20 to July 20), Dongshan Precision ranked first among South Korean A-share investors with a net purchase of US$6.4571 million. Cambricon received a net purchase of US$3.1986 million. AI and semiconductor-related companies such as Sugon and Lion Microelectronics also saw increased holdings.

In Hong Kong, South Korean investors are focusing their investments on China's technology supply chain through ETFs. In the past week, the Premia China STAR Market 50 ETF saw net inflows of $3.1729 million, while the Global X China Semiconductor ETF saw net inflows exceeding $3 million; over the past month, the Global X China Semiconductor ETF has accumulated net inflows of $15.9148 million.

Data shows that in the first half of 2026, South Korean investors made a net purchase of US$2.819 billion in Chinese assets through individual stocks and ETFs, of which US$678 million was in A-shares, representing a year-on-year increase of 130.55%. Semiconductor equipment, AI servers, PCBs, and other AI industry chain segments became the main investment targets.

In the Hong Kong stock market, SMIC became the most heavily invested stock by South Korean funds in the first half of the year with a net purchase amount of US$85.46 million. Chinese AI large model company MiniMax and Alibaba ranked second and third in terms of purchase amount, respectively.

South Korean capital is flowing rapidly into Chinese technology assets, primarily driven by volatility in the South Korean market. In the first half of this year, the South Korean KOSPI index surged by over 100%, with leading AI storage stocks such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix experiencing significant gains. However, since July, the South Korean stock market has seen a rapid correction, with the KOSPI index falling from its historical high of 9385 points to around 6820 points, a pullback of over 27%. The share prices of the two major chip giants have fallen by more than 30% in the past month.

Meanwhile, international institutions have recently begun to pay more attention to China's AI industry chain. Goldman Sachs released a report in July recommending that investors reduce their holdings of South Korean AI-related assets and shift their focus to the Chinese AI value chain, believing that the Chinese AI industry has room for valuation recovery driven by policy support, export growth, and domestic substitution.