These chip stocks could extend historic gains by rallying over 110%, according to Nomura

South Korea's chip stocks have been smashing records, hitting historic highs and powering the Kospi index to new peaks — and they still have more to room run. The Kospi notched a 75% gain in 2025, and has rallied 78% so far this year, with most of these gains being driven by two South Korean chip stocks: SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, which have risen 183% and 134%, respectively this year. Shares had gained 274% and 125% in 2025. The stocks are set to build on those superlative returns as demand for memory chips used by AI companies continues to soar. According to Nomura, Samsung — the world's largest memory maker — could rally over 110% this year and SK Hynix by about 117%, based on Monday's closing prices. Nomura, which has a "buy" rating on both companies, estimates SK Hynix stock to hit 4 million won and Samsung Electronics to reach 590,000 won over the next 12 months. That's because the memory industry has been in a "structural growth phase," since the launch of ChatGPT in December 2022, which triggered considerable growth in high-bandwidth memory, or HBM demand. Samsung and SK Hynix are among the largest producers of HBM chips. SK Hynix, the top HBM player, is expected to lead in the production of the advanced HBM4 chips, with Samsung also a strong contender in the space. The chips are used in AI and high-performance computing applications. …