Foreign investors dumped ₩7.6tn of Samsung and SK hynix in one week
Foreign investors net-sold about ₩7.6 trillion — roughly $5.6 billion — of just Samsung and SK hynix in the week of November 2–6, about 73% of all foreign selling on the Korean market. Samsung's foreign ownership fell to its lowest since July 2009.
📊 Scorecard: our Bearish call on $005930.KS is scored from ₩188,700, the last close before it ran. Its first result comes after the next close.
The News
Foreign investors net-sold about ₩7.6 trillion — roughly $5.6 billion — of just Samsung and SK hynix in the week of November 2–6, according to Korea Exchange data reported on November 7–8. That is about 73% of all foreign net selling on the KOSPI, which totalled about ₩10.4 trillion for the week. The selling was concentrated: On November 6 alone, foreigners net-sold ₩1.92 trillion of SK hynix and ₩129.8 billion of Samsung — the higher of two published tallies; another put the day at ₩1.82 trillion of SK hynix and ₩94.8 billion of Samsung.
The stocks fell with the selling. Samsung dropped 16.13% on the week, from ₩225,000 on October 30 to ₩188,700 on November 6; SK hynix fell 20.17%, from ₩1,418,000 to ₩1,132,000. Samsung's foreign ownership — the share of the company held by investors outside Korea — fell to 45.95% on November 6, its lowest since July 7, 2009. SK hynix's foreign ownership fell to 48.27%, its lowest since November 22, 2021. Both companies fell further in Seoul on November 6 than US memory stocks did in New York, because Seoul's session closed before New York's Friday bounce, and there is no Seoul session on Saturday.
The exit is striking because the fundamentals did not break. SK hynix has said virtually all of its DRAM and high-bandwidth memory output through 2029 is effectively sold, with long-term agreements covering more than half of 2027–28 production. Samsung regained the DRAM revenue crown in the third quarter with a 38% share, according to Counterpoint Research, with its new HBM4 memory drawing a good customer response. Foreign investors are not selling because orders were cancelled — they are selling because the market, and the politics around it, turned.
Foreign investors sold ₩7.6 trillion of two stocks in one week — about 73% of all foreign selling on the Korean market.
Why It Matters
Foreign ownership is the canary in a market like Korea's. Domestic investors tend to hold through a rout; foreign investors are the marginal sellers, and when they sell ₩7.6 trillion of two stocks in a week, they are saying the risk-reward has changed. The 17-year low in Samsung's foreign ownership — a level last seen in the financial crisis — is the clearest single signal in this whole week that the memory trade has turned from a shortage story into a political one.
That is why the verdict is Bearish rather than Mixed. The order books are still full and the prices are still high, but stocks are priced by the marginal buyer, and the marginal buyer just left. Until foreign flows stabilise — or a new buyer replaces them — the Korean memory names will keep trading on the politics, not the fundamentals, and the politics are still moving against them. The selling was not indiscriminate: on November 6 alone, foreigners sold ₩1.92 trillion of SK hynix but only ₩129.8 billion of Samsung — about fifteen to one — which says the exit is concentrated where the week hurt most. And the two ownership lows are years apart in meaning: Samsung's 45.95% is a 17-year low, SK hynix's 48.27% a five-year low. Both are votes of no confidence, but Samsung's is the louder one.
Analyst's Take
Our call is Bearish. Foreign ownership at a 17-year low is not a technical footnote — it is the market's verdict on the near term, delivered by the investors with the least reason to stay. The fundamentals are still strong, but when the marginal buyer leaves at this pace, the stocks fall regardless of how good the order book looks, and they keep falling until a new buyer steps in.
What to watch: Monday's Seoul open, the first session since the Friday bounce in New York — if foreign selling continues at the November 6 pace, the bounce will not reach Korea. Watch, too, whether Samsung's regained DRAM crown and SK hynix's sold-out order book start to matter again, or whether the selling is now self-sustaining.
Are you bullish or bearish on this story?
By The Numbers
FAQ
How much did foreign investors actually sell?
About ₩7.6 trillion, roughly $5.6 billion, of Samsung and SK hynix shares in the week of November 2–6 — about 73% of all foreign net selling on the KOSPI, which totalled about ₩10.4 trillion. On November 6 alone, foreigners net-sold ₩1.92 trillion of SK hynix and ₩129.8 billion of Samsung — the higher of two published tallies; another put the day at ₩1.82 trillion of SK hynix and ₩94.8 billion of Samsung.
How far did the two stocks fall?
Samsung fell 16.13% on the week, from ₩225,000 on October 30 to ₩188,700 on November 6. SK hynix fell 20.17%, from ₩1,418,000 to ₩1,132,000. Both fell further in Seoul on November 6 than US memory stocks did in New York, because Seoul's session closed before New York's Friday bounce.
What is foreign ownership, and why does the 17-year low matter?
Foreign ownership is the share of a company's stock held by investors outside the country. Samsung's fell to 45.95% on November 6, its lowest since July 7, 2009; SK hynix's fell to 48.27%, its lowest since November 22, 2021. A 17-year low means overseas investors are exiting at a pace not seen since the financial crisis — a vote of no confidence, or at least of caution, in the near term.
Did the selling change anything about the companies?
Not the fundamentals. SK hynix has said virtually all of its DRAM and high-bandwidth memory output through 2029 is effectively sold, and Samsung regained the DRAM revenue crown in the third quarter with a 38% share. The selling was about the market and the politics, not about cancelled orders.
Is this just a Korean story?
No. The same week saw Micron fall 22% and SanDisk 27% in New York. Foreign selling in Seoul is the other half of the same trade: investors pulling money out of memory stocks everywhere, because the datacenter build-out that buys the memory is now politically contested.
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Source: Asia Daily / BigGo Finance / Korea JoongAng Daily