Amid High Oil Prices, High Rates, and AI Pace Fears, KOSPI Holds the 6,700 Line

Despite the AI pace-slowdown debate, domestic brokerages continued raising price targets for Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. KB Securities and others lifted their targets, while Citi raised its 2027 and 2028 operating profit estimates by 6% and 9%, respectively.

BNK Investment & Securities, however, issued a report arguing memory prices have reached roughly half the price of finished PCs and smartphones, prompting mid- and low-tier OEMs to cut memory content, and recommended maintaining a range-bound stance with a target of 270,000 won for Samsung Electronics and 1.48 million won for SK Hynix, citing weakening demand.

Park Sidong pushed back, calling the report's basis weak. He argued that the root cause of price increases lies not only in rising demand but also in supply shortages, and that because capacity expansion takes considerable time, prices and earnings are unlikely to turn down in the short term. He described the report as one that keeps repeating a forecast until it eventually comes true, contrasting it with the broader consensus among domestic and international reports that the semiconductor industry faces no issues through 2028.

Meanwhile, BlackRock upgraded its investment view on Korean and Taiwanese equities from neutral to overweight, citing their possession of scarce resources — memory and semiconductor supply chains — needed for the AI boom, along with solid corporate earnings. The hosts noted that BlackRock's downgrade to underweight last June had proven well-timed, and interpreted this latest upgrade as centered on companies such as TSMC, Samsung Electronics, and SK Hynix that can sustain earnings in a high-rate environment.

Reports emerged suggesting Boston Dynamics' initial public offering may remain uncertain even through 2027. Citing an anonymous senior executive, the report's central point is that mass production of the humanoid robot Atlas is being delayed. Since large-scale production and monetization are prerequisites for going public at a valuation-maximizing point, this pushes the likely IPO timeline to 2027 or later.

Tesla's Optimus is also reportedly seeing slower-than-expected mass-production progress, contrary to Elon Musk's optimistic projections, lending weight to the view that commercialization of humanoid robots is not proceeding smoothly.

The hosts raised concerns that, given Hyundai Motor's heavy promotion of Boston Dynamics through its Investor Day and World Cup advertising, news of delays surfacing through an anonymous senior executive's remarks is problematic. They noted that lowering expectations via anonymous interviews, without a clear company-level roadmap announcement, could undermine investor trust, and argued that a company that has raised funds on the premise of an eventual listing bears a corresponding responsibility to provide clear explanations.

Biotech stocks rallied despite the high-rate environment. G2GBio surged over 14% after news that Novo Nordisk and Ascendis Pharma are collaborating on a once-monthly obesity treatment, which drew reflexive interest toward domestic companies holding long-acting drug delivery technology. Yuhan Onsia hit its upper limit on news that regulatory approval was granted for a change to the clinical trial plan for its new cancer drug candidate.

Park Sidong noted, however, that the grounds for such a large upper-limit move appear weak. Whether Novo Nordisk actually changed collaboration partners, and any connection to domestic companies, remains unconfirmed speculation at this stage. Still, he interpreted the moves as a delayed catch-up reflecting several pieces of good news that had gone unpriced amid the recent weak market, now being absorbed all at once, warming sentiment across KOSDAQ broadly.

The same day brought news that a joint investigation unit is conducting a search and seizure at a biotech company (reportedly ABL Bio) on suspicion of insider trading. The alleged scheme involves insiders buying shares ahead of a disclosure announcement and then selling into the resulting price rise. The hosts stressed that such cases should not end with a single company being caught, but should prompt a full investigation into past conduct as well, calling for strong institutional penalties to restore market trust.