Korea's chip kings signed a $950B AI check. The market said "seen it, next please" 📉

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix signed combined AI chip supply agreements valued at $950 billion over the weekend, yet shares of both South Korean semiconductor leaders fell in Monday trading as investors booked profits on a rally that has already priced in much of the AI-driven optimism. SK Hynix agreed to supply $750 billion in memory chips to Nvidia and other U.S. companies over several years, with Nvidia's portion of the deal pegged at $500 billion. The agreement covers new data centers targeted for 2027, and SK Hynix affiliate SK Telecom will build a cloud business on Nvidia's Vera Rubin systems. Nvidia enterprise vice president Raj Mirpuri said the deal secures a stable supply of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), the specialized chips that power AI processors and graphics cards.

Samsung separately signed a memorandum of understanding worth an estimated $200 billion with Broadcom, expanding their memory and foundry collaboration, the companies said in statements Friday. Despite the scale of the announcements, SK Hynix shares traded at 1,752,000 won Monday morning, down slightly from Friday's close and off 11.38% over the prior five sessions. Samsung Electronics fell 0.50% to 248,500 won, extending a 10.05% five-day slide. Nvidia closed down 0.92% at $206.84 in Friday's session before edging higher in overnight trading. The muted response continues a recent pattern in which SK Hynix shares have declined even on positive news this month, with U.S. investors paying a premium for its stock relative to Seoul following its blockbuster Nasdaq listing earlier in July.

Both stocks remain sharply higher year-to-date on AI demand, and traders appear to be taking profits rather than chasing fresh AI headlines regardless of announced deal size. The next test arrives later this week when Samsung and SK Hynix report quarterly earnings that will indicate whether the surge in chip orders is translating into actual profit.