Nvidia CEO Vows to Double Chip Shipments, Lifting HBM Hopes

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

1. Jensen Huang: Nvidia to Double Chip Sales Volume Next Year

Key summary: Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang set a target of doubling chip sales volume next year from this year at an AI summit in Scotland. At its earnings release last month, Nvidia projected fiscal 2028 revenue of $673 billion, up about 70% from a year earlier. Because expanding supply of AI accelerators requires increased output not only of high-bandwidth memory but also of DRAM and NAND flash for central processing units, analysts expect revenue and profit gains at Samsung Electronics and SK hynix as their expansion plans take shape. Samsung Electronics has wafer production capacity of 600,000 units a month at its P5-1 and P5-2 lines in Pyeongtaek, while SK hynix has moved up the start of operations at its Y1 cleanroom in Yongin to February next year, more than six months earlier than planned.

2. Widening Gap: Large Caps Fall Short of Even Lowest Price Targets

Key summary: Based on Thursday's close, eight of the 10 largest companies by market value except SK hynix were trading below brokerages' lowest price targets, according to FnGuide. SK Square (402340.KS) showed the widest gap, needing to rise another 39.0% to reach the lowest target of 1.5 million won, followed by Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) at 37.0% to 500,000 won and Samsung Biologics (207940.KS) at 28.8% to 1.8 million won. Analysts say price targets that rose sharply from late last year through the first half have proved resistant to cuts, while U.S. rate increases and foreign selling pushed shares lower, widening the gap between brokerage expectations and actual prices. "Price targets go up quickly, but when they need to come down, analysts tend to avoid large one-time cuts because it means reversing their earlier forecasts," an official in the financial investment industry said.

3. Japan's Policy Rate Hits 31-Year High; Governor Ueda Signals Slower Pace of Further Hikes

Key summary: The Bank of Japan raised its policy rate by 25 basis points to 1.25% from 1.0% at its monetary policy meeting, the highest level since 1995. The move marked the first time in history that the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan all raised rates in the same month. High oil prices stemming from the Middle East and growing demand for AI investment, seen as potential sources of inflationary pressure, were cited as reasons for the faster pace of tightening. Governor Kazuo Ueda reaffirmed plans for further increases but signaled a measured approach, saying that raising rates too abruptly and causing large swings in asset prices should be avoided. While some warn that the unwinding of yen carry trades by global investors could increase volatility in risk assets, others say large-scale capital shifts are unlikely because the Fed has also turned to tightening.

4. QLD and TQQQ Over SOXL: Korean Retail Investors Keep Betting on Leverage

Key summary: Korean investors bought a net $357.85 million in QLD and TQQQ between July 31 and the 17th of this month, 1.8 times the $201.46 million in net purchases of the single-leverage Invesco QQQ tracking the same index, according to the Korea Securities Depository. Average daily turnover in four domestic single-stock leveraged products, by contrast, plunged 92.7% over the same period to 663.6 billion won from 9.0899 trillion won, a drop attributed to regulators raising the basic deposit requirement for ordinary investors to 30 million won in cash. Analysts say demand shifted toward betting on a broad rebound in the Nasdaq 100 rather than on specific semiconductor names, after high oil prices from the Middle East and concerns over monetary tightening pushed the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield above 5% and left no clear additional catalysts for AI-related shares. "Leveraged products are largely suited to short-term positioning, so long-term investors are better served by conventional index ETFs," said Shin Seung-jin, head of the investment information team at Samsung Securities (016360.KS).

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