As the AI (artificial intelligence) momentum revives again, not only the leading semiconductor stocks but also materials, components, and equipment (so-bu-jang) stocks are surging. SFA Semiconductor and Hanamicroon have risen more than 30%, recording higher growth rates than Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. Experts in the financial investment industry assessed that the growth potential of so-bu-jang companies remains high through 2028.
According to data from the Korea Exchange on the 22nd, as of the 21st, SFA Semiconductor surged 49.86% over the past week. Hanamicroon jumped 30.23%.
DB HiTek (24.67%), Wonik IPS (16.95%), Haesung DS (12.38%), PSK (11.30%), IOTechnics (8.64%), Hansol Chemical (7.75%), and Eugene Tech (6.77%) also rose in tandem.
During the same period, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix rose 5.59% and 3.09%, respectively.
The surge in semiconductor materials, components, and equipment stocks began primarily because AI momentum has revived again. The AI momentum, which had faltered due to concerns about AI speed regulation that emerged on the 14th, started to recover following Intel's forecast that semiconductor memory supply conditions could become tighter next year and CEO Jensen Huang of NVIDIA's remarks that NVIDIA chip sales volume will double this year. Recently, Meta's successful launch of its new agent AI also had a positive impact on investor sentiment.
Amid this situation, as domestic and foreign semiconductor companies began expanding production capacity and the concentration on Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix eased, investor interest began to shift toward semiconductor materials, components, and equipment stocks.
During the same period, foreign investors made a net purchase of 55.8 billion won in Hanamicroon. Other so-bu-jang stocks such as SFA Semiconductor (net purchase amount 52.9 billion won), Wonik IPS (44.6 billion won), PSK Holdings (21.6 billion won), PSK (20.4 billion won), Simtek (12.6 billion won), and Tes (11.4 billion won) also ranked among the top stocks for net purchases by foreign investors.
Kim Rok-ho, a researcher at Hana Securities, said, "We judge that there are many investment opportunities across so-bu-jang companies overall." He added, "Considering the expansion schedules of domestic and foreign semiconductor companies, visibility for external growth through 2028 is very high."
In particular, recently, stocks of post-processing companies such as Hanamicroon, PSK Holdings, and SFA Semiconductor have risen significantly. This is because major memory companies are increasing the outsourcing ratio of general-purpose memory post-processing lines to improve production capacity (CAPA) efficiency. Semiconductor post-processing refers to the process of packaging and testing completed chips.
Park Se-woong, a researcher at Samsung Securities, explained, "Supply bottlenecks due to HBM (high-bandwidth memory) yield occur in post-processing such as testing and packaging." He noted, "Memory companies are outsourcing the post-processing area of general-purpose memory, where yields have relatively stabilized, to external companies in order to expand HBM CAPA."
Experts forecast that the upward trend in semiconductor materials, components, and equipment stocks will continue, centered on semiconductor post-processing companies.
Lee Su-rim, a researcher at DS Investment & Securities, said, "Next year, as the lagging effect of expanded facility investment (CAPEX) fully takes hold, the center of profitability may shift to so-bu-jang." He predicted, "Next year, the operating profit growth rate of some so-bu-jang companies could be higher than that of large-cap stocks." He added, "The valuation attractiveness of post-processing semiconductor companies, which showed strong stock price gains during the first half compared to front-processing companies, will also come to the fore."
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