HBM Shock: Apple to Raise iPhone Prices Too

*Editor's Note: 'AI PRISM' (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an "AI-based customized news recommendation and summary service" developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six customized news items for each reader type.

1. Held Out on Inventory but Finally Surrendered… Apple Caught Up in 'Phone-flation' Too

- Key Summary: Apple has signaled a major price increase for the iPhone, citing surging memory chip prices. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), CEO Tim Cook said the price increase was unavoidable, stating, "We tried to protect customers, but we can no longer sustain the situation." This comes as NAND flash prices have soared nearly fourfold amid a surge in demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM, memory made by stacking DRAM to maximize GPU performance) for AI servers. The WSJ analyzed that the iPhone 18 Pro could start at $1,299 (about 2 million won), up $200 from its predecessor. Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump said "Apple has agreed to partner with Intel to design and produce chips within the United States," indicating that Apple's move to diversify its semiconductor supply chain is rapidly becoming visible.

2. FOMO Retail Investors and Chips 'Hard-Carry'… Top Four Stocks Near 60% of Market Cap

- Key Summary: The KOSPI closed at 9,063.84 on Thursday, breaking the 9,000 mark for the first time, but its structural vulnerability — relying on semiconductor and AI large-cap stocks alone for the index's gains — was also highlighted. On the securities market, only 109 stocks rose while 791 stocks fell, showing an extreme divergence between the index and individual stocks. This month, individual net purchases through single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs) reached 8.4295 trillion won, concentrating FOMO buying. While experts warned that "if semiconductor stocks correct, the market could shake and volatility could increase," they also offered the outlook that if companies' strengthened shareholder returns and solid earnings provide support, the KOSPI could break through the 10,000 mark as early as the first half of the year.

3. 64-Year-Old Ulsan-Mipo Complex Becomes Manufacturing AI Testing Ground

- Key Summary: The Ulsan-Mipo National Industrial Complex, with production worth 177 trillion won (as of 2025), is being transformed into a demonstration hub for "manufacturing AX (AI transformation)." The core of this project is to invest approximately 29 billion won through the end of 2028 to develop and verify a petrochemical-specialized vertical AI model based on manufacturing data from leading companies such as SK Energy. While existing digital transformation (DX) projects placed weight on data collection, this project aims for a higher stage of applying and verifying AI models in actual processes. If Ulsan's demonstration model succeeds, it is expected to spread to other petrochemical complexes such as Yeosu and Daesan, as well as to major manufacturing industries such as shipbuilding and automobiles.

4. Five State-Run Power Companies Become One After 25 Years

- Key Summary: A research study concluded that the five power generation public companies under Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) — East-West, Southern, Southeast, Western and Korea Midland Power — should be merged into one company. After reviewing five alternatives, Samil PwC (032280) concluded that "complete integration is best in terms of unifying the executing entity for long-term, high-risk energy transition tasks and the capacity to carry out large-scale transition investments." The government plans to establish a restructuring plan in July and prepare to enact a special law on the transition of power generation public companies. However, some point out that growing pains are inevitable during the integration process, including the issue of business transfer between existing companies and the integrated entity.

5. 100% Wages Guaranteed Even During Downtime… Renault, Cutting Output, Proposes Flexible Work to Union

- Key Summary: Renault Korea is pushing to introduce a "work accumulation system" that accumulates plant non-operating days and offsets them with overtime when work increases, and has proposed to the union the condition of raising non-operating day wages from the current 70% to 100%. From the start of this year through May, Renault's domestic and overseas sales totaled 28,733 units, down 25.3% year-on-year, and last month plunged 40% from a year earlier, deepening the decline in performance. In response, Renault decided to shut down for 11 of the 21 working days at its Busan plant this month, while preparing rebound cards such as mass-producing a new model from Polestar under China's Geely as early as next month and moving up the schedule for a partial change (facelift) of the Grand Koleos. The industry assesses such a flexible work system as a groundbreaking attempt not seen at domestic automakers such as Hyundai Motor (005380) and Kia (000270).

6. Global Heavyweights Flock In… Large Companies' Foreign Currency Bonds a Hit

- Key Summary: Global institutional investors are concentrating their buying on foreign currency-denominated bonds issued by Korea's private-sector large companies. From January to May this year, the total amount of foreign currency bonds issued by five entities — POSCO, SK On, LG Energy Solution (373220), Naver and Hanwha Qcells' U.S. subsidiary — reached $5.2 billion (about 7.852 trillion won), exceeding half of the domestically issued corporate bonds by large company affiliates (14.853 trillion won) over the same period. This reflects the highlighting of the repayment capacity and price competitiveness of Korean large company bonds amid limited supply of Chinese bonds. Meanwhile, large companies with no history of issuing foreign currency bonds, such as Hanwha Aerospace (012450) and POSCO International (047050), are also preparing to enter the global bond market in the second half.