Shinhan Asset Management is rolling out an exchange-traded fund that concentrates on the semiconductor companies leading the global memory market and on key equipment makers.
Shinhan Asset Management said on the 2nd that it plans to list the SOL Global DRAM Semiconductor Plus ETF on the main board of the Korea Exchange on the 7th of this month. The portfolio comprises 10 holdings, including the three leading global DRAM makers — Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), SK hynix (000660.KS) and Micron Technology — along with memory and storage companies and semiconductor equipment makers.
About 90% of total assets go to the so-called "memory seven": Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, Micron, SanDisk, Kioxia, Seagate and Western Digital. Beyond high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and conventional DRAM, the fund also holds memory and storage companies tied to artificial intelligence infrastructure, spanning NAND flash, solid-state drives (SSDs) and hard disk drives (HDDs).
The remaining 10% is allocated to global semiconductor equipment makers such as Applied Materials, Lam Research and KLA. That structure targets not only earnings growth at manufacturers as memory conditions improve but also capital spending driven by capacity expansion and finer process technology.
The new fund extends the investment scope of Shinhan Asset Management's existing SOL AI Semiconductor Top 2 Plus ETF to global markets including the United States and Japan. Unlike ETFs listed overseas, it is designed to let investors gain exposure to the global memory industry through tax-advantaged accounts in Korea, such as pension accounts.
Micron's strong results, reported on the 30th of last month, are also lifting expectations for the memory market. The company posted quarterly earnings and next-quarter guidance above market estimates, highlighting growing demand for HBM and for data center memory and storage. Shinhan Asset Management likewise expects global memory companies to sustain medium- to long-term growth as expanding AI infrastructure investment coincides with supply constraints.
"Micron's strong results show that growth in the memory industry in the AI era is translating into actual corporate earnings," said Kim Jung-hyun, head of the ETF business group at Shinhan Asset Management. "We expanded the investment scope beyond Samsung Electronics and SK hynix to overseas memory companies and global equipment makers so that investors can capture the industry's growth opportunities together."
