2년치를 석 달 만에 벌었는데 ‘삼전·하닉’, 주가는 왜? [뉴스in뉴스] / KBS 2026.07.07.

We will examine the industry outlook following Samsung Electronics' second-quarter earnings announcement with Reporter Seo Young-min. Please start by evaluating today's earnings. [Reporter] It was expected that they would earn a tremendous amount, and broadly speaking, that is exactly what came out. This isn't just a story about Samsung. SK Hynix is ​​set to announce its preliminary results at the end of this month; even though it is a company that focuses solely on memory, it is expected to earn around 60 trillion won. So, over the past three months, Samsung Electronics has earned 89 trillion won (excluding performance bonus provisions), and SK Hynix's estimate is 60 trillion won. Combined, the two companies are earning around 150 trillion won per quarter. To give you an idea of ​​just how significant this amount is, The years when South Korea earned the most money from semiconductors were 2017 and 2018. During those years, the annual operating profits of the two companies were 67 trillion won in 2017 and 79 trillion won in 2018. That totals 147 trillion won over two years, but this time, they have reached that level in just three months. That is truly a tremendous figure. [Anchor] However, stock prices have been sluggish. There were days when they dropped by 10%. And they are falling again today, aren't they? [Reporter] It is due to concerns, and these concerns fall into two main categories. One is the worry that the future has become bleak, and the other is the worry that they cannot rise further due to the conditions of the market itself. To look at the market situation first, we can simply rephrase it as "net selling by foreign investors." In the first half of the year, foreign investors net sold over 120 trillion won across the two companies combined. Since foreign institutional investors are obligated to realize profits, looking at that supply and demand situation, it is difficult for prices to rise now. The other concern is whether the "good cycle" has now peaked. In fact, this is the real worry. This isn't simply about the memory cycle; it is about the future of the AI ​​industry. Big Tech companies are building data centers for AI as if in a Cold War arms race, leading to expectations that memory demand would expand endlessly. However, unexpected news emerged from Zuckerberg’s Meta last week. He stated that he is considering a business to lease out surplus data center computing power to external parties. This became a signal of suspicion, raising questions such as, "Is Meta no longer competing in AI?" or "Is there now an excess of AI infrastructure?" Semiconductor stock prices around the world have fallen in tandem. [Anchor] Did today's earnings provide an answer to those concerns? [Reporter] Yes, it did provide an answer, but it was an expected one. We need more evidence to confirm that demand remained solid, at least through the second quarter. As earnings reports from overseas companies like TSMC and ASML, as well as domestic firms like SK Hynix, will be released one after another, and we need to verify all of them. In the meantime, the numbers that will truly confirm this will be released at the end of the month. So, these are announcements from US big tech companies like Microsoft and Google. Rather than focusing on earnings, we need to pay close attention to their investment plans, specifically how much they intend to invest in AI next year. By looking at those plans, we can determine whether our concerns are excessive or if we really need to worry. [Anchor] SK Hynix is ​​reportedly listing its ADRs on the US stock market later this week. What exactly are ADRs? [Reporter] Yes, they stand for American Depositary Receipts. Simply put, it means that US investors will be able to purchase SK Hynix shares in the US using dollars, even without entering the Korean stock market. Expectations are growing that SK Hynix's stock price could be revalued based on the value of the new shares issued to the US market, which will be traded on the US market. [Anchor] Does receiving a fair price imply the power for the stock price to rise further? [Reporter] That is the expectation, but it is not guaranteed. It is clear that accessibility to Korean stocks is improving, but that does not mean new demand is being created where none existed before. The most important thing is the story. If the belief persists that the AI ​​market is alive and that our memory companies are firmly holding the bottlenecks in the AI ​​industry's growth process, then that could be the case; however, if concerns increase as they are now, it might not be. [Anchor] In fact, the reason we are looking at the performance of individual companies and examining the situation surrounding stock prices like this is because Samsung Electronics or SK Hynix hold significance beyond mere companies from South Korea's perspective, isn't it? [Reporter] Yes, semiconductors accounted for 40% of export...