The asset that delivered the biggest gain over the past decade for a 100 million won investment was neither a Gangnam apartment nor bitcoin — it was Nvidia. The chipmaker's stock has climbed nearly 138-fold over 10 years as the artificial intelligence market expanded rapidly.
Nvidia shares rose from $1.58 on Sept. 1, 2016, to $217.44 on Sept. 1 this year, a roughly 138-fold increase, according to the financial investment industry on the 26th. An investment of 100 million won in Nvidia stock a decade ago would now be worth about 13.8 billion won. The figure is a simple calculation that excludes currency movements, taxes and dividends.
Back in 2016, Nvidia was a semiconductor company whose main business was graphics processing units for gaming. As the generative AI market grew quickly, demand surged for GPUs used in AI data centers, and Nvidia established itself as the key supplier of chips for AI.
Bitcoin also posted explosive gains over the decade but fell short of Nvidia. The cryptocurrency rose from $572.3 per coin on Sept. 1, 2016, to $77,403 on Sept. 1 this year, a roughly 135-fold increase. Under the same conditions, a 100 million won investment would have grown to about 13.5 billion won.
Korean chip stocks also recorded steep gains. SK hynix shares jumped from 36,100 won to 1.693 million won over the same period, a roughly 47-fold increase. A 100 million won investment a decade ago would have swelled to about 4.7 billion won.
Samsung Electronics rose from 31,740 won to 261,000 won, a gain of about 8.2-fold. A 100 million won investment would now be worth an estimated 800 million won.
Major U.S. technology stocks also advanced sharply. Tesla climbed from $14.13 to $356.09, a roughly 25-fold increase, while Apple rose from $26.68 to $325.13, about 12-fold. A 100 million won investment in each would have become about 2.5 billion won and 1.2 billion won, respectively.
Gold, a traditional safe-haven asset, also continued to gain. Domestic gold prices rose from 47,310 won per gram on Sept. 1, 2016, to 196,280 won on Sept. 1 this year, a roughly 4.1-fold increase, according to the Korea Exchange. Buying 100 million won worth of gold over the same period would be worth about 400 million won now.
Gangnam apartments, by contrast, gained less than stocks or bitcoin. Converting the actual transaction price of an 84-square-meter unit at Eunma Apartments in Daechi-dong, Gangnam District, Seoul, into a price per square meter, the figure rose from about 16 million won in September 2016 to about 46 million won in September this year. That is a gain of roughly 2.9-fold, meaning a simple conversion puts the value of 100 million won a decade ago at about 290 million won today.
The comparison, however, simply matches each asset's price on Sept. 1, 2016, against its price on Sept. 1, 2026, and actual investment returns may differ. It excludes exchange rates, taxes and transaction costs, as well as stock dividends and rental income from property. Real estate, in particular, cannot be bought in freely divisible 100 million won increments the way stocks or bitcoin can.
