HBM Export Price Tops $70 for First Time as HBM4 Shipments Ramp Up

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

1. Second Memory Shortage Driven by LTAs: HBM, DRAM Prices Surge Again

- Key points: Memory chip prices jumped again as HBM4, the sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory destined for global Big Tech AI data centers, entered full-scale supply. According to the Korea International Trade Association, the average export price per HBM unit stood at $76.13 as of the end of July, up 9.5% from the previous month and topping $70 for the first time. As production of HBM4, which is built by stacking DRAM, increased, the average export price of conventional DRAM also surged 24.3% to $22.9. Samsung Electronics is reviewing a plan to convert foundry lines at its Pyeongtaek campus into memory production facilities, and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won disclosed that SK hynix is considering building a semiconductor plant in Japan. Do Won-bin, a senior researcher at the trade association, said price increases are unavoidable for the time being because chips are exported in full as soon as they are produced.

2. China Leads in Humanoids: The Secret Is 'Mega M&A'

- Key points: Large-scale mergers and acquisitions have been identified as the driving force behind the rise of China's robot industry. Midea, which started in 1968 in Guangdong Province as a bottle cap manufacturer with capital of 5,000 yuan (about 1.02 million won), acquired Germany's KUKA, one of the world's four largest industrial robot makers, for 4.5 billion euros (about 7.15 trillion won) in 2016. KUKA now operates six robot production plants in China. An analysis of regulatory filings by Korean and Chinese robot companies conducted by The Seoul Economic Daily found that China invested $5.6 billion in at least 13 core robot companies worldwide over the 10 years since 2016, while South Korea entered late, beginning with Hyundai Motor's acquisition of a stake in Boston Dynamics in 2021, and its deal value came to just $1.6 billion. Oh Seung-hoon, head of the machinery policy center at the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, said a national strategy to secure robot sovereignty is urgently needed.

3. HBM4 Shifts the Landscape: Outlooks Diverge for Samsung and SK hynix

- Key points: As Samsung Electronics draws attention for expanding HBM4 mass production and improving yields, the "supplier premium" that had been concentrated on SK hynix is being reassessed. According to the Korea Exchange, Samsung Electronics rose 1.18% over the past month while SK hynix fell 8.98%, and foreign investors sold a net 5.9805 trillion won worth of SK hynix over the same period. LS Securities (078020) raised its target price for Samsung Electronics by 12.5% to 450,000 won from 400,000 won, while cutting its target for SK hynix by 27.3% to 2.4 million won from 3.3 million won. Samsung Electronics' share of HBM4 shipments is estimated to have risen to about 35% in the second quarter from about 5% in the first quarter. Jung Woo-sung, an analyst at LS Securities, said the target price cut reflects a normalization of the competitive structure among suppliers rather than a slowdown in growth of the HBM market.

4. Trump Again Targets Korea Over Iran Refusal, Hints at Trade Retaliation: 'We're Going to Make a Lot of Money'

- Key points: U.S. President Donald Trump again vented frustration with South Korea and hinted at trade retaliation in a Fox News interview released on the 30th. Trump said the United States spends billions of dollars for NATO and other countries but receives no help in return, citing South Korea as an example. He also put the size of U.S. Forces Korea at about 40,000 troops and claimed a request related to Iran had been refused, though the actual troop presence is about 28,500 and Trump has repeatedly overstated the figure. Separately, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged Group of 20 members to review their trade terms with China, stressing that the world cannot absorb China's $1.2 trillion trade surplus. Japan's 10-year government bond yield rose to 2.950% in the Tokyo bond market on the 31st, the highest level in about 30 years, since September 1996.

5. Hanwha Aerospace to Export 128 K9 Howitzers to Spain in First Western Europe Deal

- Key points: Hanwha Aerospace said in a regulatory filing on the 31st that it had signed a contract to export K9 self-propelled howitzers and other equipment to Spanish defense firm Indra Sistemas, marking its first entry into the Western European market. A memorandum of understanding signed in March centered on the supply of 280 units in total, including 128 K9-based tracked self-propelled howitzers, 120 ammunition resupply vehicles, 11 command and control vehicles and 21 recovery vehicles, and will be carried out through local production accompanied by technology transfer rather than as a straight export of finished products. Specific volumes and the value of this contract were not disclosed under a confidentiality clause covering business secrets. Still, because a July filing on the framework agreement described the deal as worth "at least 2.5% of recent revenue," the contract is estimated at a minimum of 660 billion won and as much as around 1 trillion won. The deal brings the number of countries operating the K9 to 11 worldwide. It is the first case of clearing Western Europe's high entry barriers in Spain's howitzer modernization program, which is valued in the 7 trillion won range.

6. 'Korea's Trade With CPTPP Exceeds U.S. and China; Joining Would Strengthen Supply Chains'

- Key points: With the government beginning discussions on joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), experts agreed that the talks should be accelerated to minimize supply chain risk. Jeffrey Schott, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), said trade between South Korea and CPTPP members reached 25% of the country's total trade last year, exceeding China at 20% and the United States at 15%. That scale, he said, would allow South Korea to ease supply chain risks for critical minerals and machinery. Deborah Elms, head of trade policy at the Hinrich Foundation, warned that the later South Korea joins, the weaker its influence over rulemaking within the CPTPP could become. On the issue of opposition from the agriculture, livestock and fisheries sectors, Schott advised looking to Japan, which overcame political resistance through import quotas and a dairy stabilization program.