Samsung Labor Deal Sends KOSPI Up 7%, Nvidia Earnings Fuel Chip Rally

KOSPI Surges 7% on Triple Crown Hopes

News of a settlement in Samsung Electronics' labor negotiations sent KOSPI and KOSDAQ sharply higher at the open. KOSPI rose more than 7%, breaking above 7,700 and touching the 7,760-7,770 range at one point, while KOSDAQ gained over 5% to trade near 1,110. Buy-side circuit breakers were triggered on both markets early in the session.

On the flow side, foreign investors continued selling but at a shrinking pace, while institutions bought roughly 2 trillion won worth of shares to support the rally. Financial investment firms, insurers, asset managers, banks, and pension funds all joined the buying. The won dipped to around 1,499 per dollar intraday before retracing to near 1,504.

Market attention is turning to a so-called "triple crown" — KOSPI at 8,000, Samsung Electronics at 300,000 won, and SK Hynix at 2 million won. Still, with US Treasury yields and fiscal concerns lingering, analysts say the situation needs to be watched day by day.

Inside the Samsung Labor Deal, SK Hynix Surges

Samsung Electronics and its union reached a tentative wage agreement late the previous night, with a ratification vote set for May 23-28. The key element keeps the existing profit-sharing bonus framework intact while creating a new special bonus pool for the semiconductor division, funded by roughly 10.5% of business performance and split 40% common/60% by division results. The special bonus will be paid in treasury shares, with a third sellable immediately and the rest released in stages after one and two years — an effect similar to RSUs.

Bonuses tied to the wider performance gap between divisions have been pushed back a year, taking effect from 2027 earnings, and will only kick in once DS division operating profit exceeds 200 trillion won (100 trillion won from 2029 onward). Under the deal, per-employee bonuses in the memory division are estimated at roughly 600 million won, and expectations are building that Samsung will need to expand share buybacks to cover the expanded stock payouts.

Samsung Electronics jumped 7.9% to 298,000 won, while SK Hynix surged more than 11% to around 1.93-1.94 million won. LG Electronics, which had fallen sharply over the prior sessions, rebounded more than 25%, and Hyundai Mobis gained about 17% while LS Electric jumped roughly 13%, lifting power-equipment and auto group stocks broadly.

Nvidia's Earnings Surprise Reaffirms the Chip 'Triangle Alliance'

Nvidia's fiscal 2027 first-quarter revenue came in at $81.6 billion, above the roughly $79 billion consensus and up 85% year over year. Data center revenue rose 92% to $75.2 billion, and gross margin beat the 74.5% estimate at 75%, extending a streak of record results for 12 consecutive quarters.

On the earnings call, Nvidia confirmed its Blackwell chips remain sold out, said its next-generation Vera Rubin platform — combining the Vera CPU and Rubin GPU — will drive the next upgrade cycle, and emphasized a broader customer base spanning CPUs and networking beyond GPUs alone. Achieving these results without any China revenue included was seen as an added positive.

Notably, Nvidia said mass production of its next-generation chips will ramp in the third quarter, which was read as a signal that concerns over SK Hynix's HBM4 yield and performance had been resolved. That appeared to confirm the so-called triangle alliance among Nvidia, TSMC, and Korean memory makers remains intact, with SK Hynix's operating margin — now above 70%, exceeding Nvidia's own — seen as boosting its leverage within the supply chain.

Rising US Treasury Yields Sound a Warning

The US 30-year Treasury yield climbed to 5.19%, its highest since the financial crisis. Analysts described the move as a wave of selling by so-called bond vigilantes — governments and large investors dumping bonds, pushing prices down and yields up.

The selling was read as a market warning about current rate levels and the fiscal outlook. Heavier funding costs could hit companies that need to issue bonds for data centers or new technology investment, with some even suggesting weaker firms could fail. The consensus was that the Trump administration is under growing pressure to show the market a credible plan for addressing fiscal issues.

The US 10-year Treasury yield held near 4.59%, still not pulling back meaningfully. Even so, the day's rally showed the Nvidia-led chip surge outweighing rate concerns for now.

OpenAI and SpaceX Race Toward IPOs as Asian Markets Rally Too

Reports emerged that OpenAI could file for an IPO as early as May 22, targeting a listing by September. The move is seen as an effort to lock in funding early and accelerate investment as competition intensifies.

SpaceX has also filed formally for an IPO, with a roadshow beginning June 8, pricing expected June 11, and listing targeted for June 12. Proceeds are earmarked for space-based AI data centers and further development of the Starship rocket, with the raise reportedly around $75 billion. Such a large listing from a space company would be unprecedented, and could set a valuation benchmark for other space-related names.

In Korea, launch-vehicle makers such as Hanwha Aerospace, Innospace, and Perigee Aerospace, satellite makers including Hanwha Systems, Intellian Technologies, and AP Satellite, and Mirae Asset Securities — which holds a stake in SpaceX — were flagged as related plays. While large IPOs can draw liquidity away from other assets, analysts noted that newly listed firms typically go through a period of re-rating on fundamentals rather than rallying immediately. Elsewhere, Taiwan's Taiex rose about 3%, nearing a record high, while Japan's Nikkei gained 3.5% to top 60,000.

Lee Kwang-soo's Take — 'National Investors,' Not 'Ants'

Criticism emerged of media coverage that frames the domestic market as a bubble based on foreign net selling, while describing individual investors absorbing those sales with pejorative terms like "ants" or "cannon fodder." Just as the US uses "retail investor," the argument goes, Korea should adopt the term "national investors" instead of "ants."

The reasoning is that foreign investors chase returns and tend to exit as soon as they profit, whereas domestic retail investors invest based on trust in Korean companies and the country itself — meaning markets with heavier foreign ownership could actually carry more volatility risk. Concern was also raised that media framing which belittles investors could undermine broader market confidence.