SK Hynix shares experienced the steepest decline in their history. On July 13, the stock of the South Korean memory supplier plummeted by 15.4%, dragging down the entire country's stock market. This marked the culmination of a prolonged sell-off that began after a historic rally fueled by interest in artificial intelligence.
SK Hynix, often referred to as "Korea's Nvidia," saw its stock price fall 38% from its June record. The company's market capitalization shrank from approximately $1.25 trillion at its peak to around $1.05 trillion. In July alone, shares dropped 30% — the worst month for the company since October 2008.
The crash resulted from massive profit-taking by investors. After explosive growth driven by the AI boom, market participants began reassessing expectations for the memory chip market's growth. Investors finally decided to lock in profits, and this process proved extremely painful for stocks that were recently market favorites.
The decline continued on the U.S. exchange as well. SK Hynix shares, trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker SKHY, fell 9% to $154, following a surge of more than 14% on their debut day Friday. This indicates that selling pressure is global in nature and not limited to the Korean market.
Collapse of the entire Korean market
The fall of SK Hynix dragged down the entire Korean market. On July 13, a circuit breaker was triggered during trading of the South Korean KOSPI index. The mechanism temporarily halted trading to curb panic selling. Ultimately, the index fell 8.95% to 6,806.93 points.
SK Hynix itself dropped 15.37% that day to 1.845 million won per share. This is approximately 38% below the intraday record set on June 25. One company effectively determined the dynamics of the entire market. Given SK Hynix's enormous weight in the index, its crash became a key factor in the record decline of the KOSPI.
Analyst comment: This episode vividly demonstrates how fragile a market overheated by the artificial intelligence theme can be. SK Hynix is not just a chip manufacturer but a symbol of faith in the AI revolution. A 38% correction from the peak is not merely a technical move but a signal that investors are beginning to doubt the pace of demand growth. It is too early to declare the end of the bull trend, but July 2025 will go down in history as the moment when "Korea's Nvidia" showed its vulnerability. In the coming weeks, we will see whether this decline is an entry opportunity or the start of a deeper correction.