Global investment bank (IB) Goldman Sachs raised its KOSPI target to 9,000. It lifted its outlook about 20 days after presenting the previous target of 8,000. The move is seen as focusing on the possibility that the memory chip supercycle driven by expanded artificial intelligence (AI) investment will last longer.
According to foreign media including Business Insider on the 8th, Goldman Sachs, in a report published on the 6th, maintained its "overweight" view on Korean stocks and presented a KOSPI target of 9,000. Goldman Sachs rated the Korean market as the "top market" in Asia.
Goldman Sachs said, "Korean stocks have shown the strongest upward trend among major global markets this year, but there is still room for further gains." It added, "Despite the recent surge, valuation pressure is relatively limited," and noted, "The market has not sufficiently reflected the sustainability of earnings in the memory chip sector."
It placed particular emphasis on high expectations for the semiconductor cycle. Goldman Sachs explained that as AI investment by major cloud corporations continues to expand, shortages of DRAM and NAND are deepening. As a result, it expects memory prices to keep rising and the profitability of domestic chip corporations to be sustained longer than expected.
It also cited the spread of AI agents and an increase in long-term supply contracts as factors that enhance the earnings stability of domestic memory makers. Goldman Sachs projected that the hardware and semiconductor sectors will be the key engines driving earnings growth for Korean corporations.
Other global investment banks are also raising their expectations for Korean stocks. Citigroup said in a report the previous day that "a strong semiconductor cycle is offsetting the burden of high oil prices," and raised its KOSPI target to 8,500 from 7,000.
Meanwhile, the KOSPI closed at 7,498.00, up 7.95 points (0.11%) from the previous trading day. It renewed the record high on a closing basis a day after setting it the previous day.