PLUS Global HBM Semiconductor, the flagship exchange-traded fund (ETF) of Hanwha Asset Management, surpassed 2 trillion won in total net assets on the back of a boom in the memory chip market.
According to Hanwha Asset Management on the 24th, the total net assets of the PLUS Global HBM Semiconductor ETF stood at 2.0078 trillion won at the close on the 23rd based on Korea Exchange (KRX) data. After reaching 1 trillion won in net worth at the end of last month, it doubled in just over 20 days.
It is also delivering clear results in terms of returns. The product's period returns were 128.6% over the past three months, 247.14% over six months, and 611.43% over one year. Since listing, the cumulative return has reached 1,350.58%.
This ETF puts leading core companies in the domestic and global memory chip markets into one basket. The main holdings are Micron Technology (29.94%), SK hynix (28.54%), and Samsung Electronics (20.24%). Including SanDisk (4.64%), which newly entered through the regular rebalancing at the end of last month, the four companies account for about 84% of the investment weight.
Hanwha Asset Management said the biggest feature of this ETF is that it allows investment across global top-tier memory corporations that will resolve AI bottlenecks beyond domestic corporations Samsung Electronics and SK hynix.
Recently, demand for memory chips has surged as artificial intelligence (AI) technology moves beyond simple computation and inference into the "agent" stage, where token usage is rapidly increasing. Big tech corporations' data center capital expenditures (CAPEX) are also expected to expand more than 2.5 times, from $380 billion last year to $904 billion next year. In particular, the share of memory chips in total capital expenditures is expected to jump from 16% in 2025 to 73% in 2027.
A supplier-centric market structure is also one of the factors supporting a positive outlook. In the first quarter of this year, three companies—Samsung Electronics (38.5%), SK hynix (28.8%), and Micron (22.4%)—cornered about 90% of the global DRAM market. In the NAND market, four companies—Samsung Electronics (31.6%), SK hynix (17.6%), Micron (13.9%), and SanDisk (13.9%)—hold about 76%.
On the back of strong supply chain dominance, transaction types are being reshaped in favor of suppliers. The market is shifting from short-term contracts of one month to one quarter to long-term contracts of three to seven years. The payment method has also changed from post-delivery settlement to receiving about 30% of the contract volume in advance, improving earnings visibility.
From a valuation perspective, its relative undervaluation is also positive. The 12-month forward price-to-earnings ratios (P/E) of Micron and SanDisk are 10.8 times and 11.7 times, respectively. This is lower compared with Samsung Electro-Mechanics (97 times), HANMI Semiconductor (69.7 times), and Wonik IPS (33 times), whose share prices have recently surged on AI benefits.
Geum Jeong-seop, head of the ETF division at Hanwha Asset Management, said, "The PLUS Global HBM Semiconductor ETF concentrates investment in front-end companies of the memory supercycle such as Micron and SanDisk," adding, "As AI enters the agent stage, memory demand is surging, and because the memory supercycle is just beginning, now is the time to actively consider inclusion."