Nvidia sets second straight record close; Korean AI supply chain shares rally

Nvidia shares closed 2.1% higher at $238.90 on the New York market on October 5 local time, a second consecutive record close, after touching an intraday high of $240.10. Yonhap and the Dong-A Ilbo put the company's market capitalisation at about $5.76 trillion, while the Seoul Economic Daily said it rose to as much as $5.78 trillion during the session. [ 1 , 2 , 4 ]

To become the first company worth $6 trillion, the stock would need to reach about $248, roughly 3.8% above the close according to Yonhap or about 4% according to the Dong-A Ilbo. CNBC, cited by all three outlets, analysed options prices and put the probability of reaching $6 trillion by the end of October at about 50%. Yonhap said the same analysis showed a 13% probability within this week, about 67% by December 18 and about 6% for $7 trillion by November 20. [ 1 , 2 , 4 ]

Yonhap reported that Nvidia shares have rebounded nearly 25% from a low in late July, and that the rally followed the company's September 28 announcement raising its share buyback limit by a record $150 billion and a meeting the next day between US President Donald Trump and Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang and other AI company heads. Ben Emmons, a managing director at Highline Asset Management, told Yonhap the buyback was “not simply shareholder return but a capital allocation event that shows confidence in long-term AI demand”. The Seoul Economic Daily added that Morgan Stanley reselected Nvidia as its top pick in semiconductors with an “overweight” rating and a $300 target price, and quoted analyst Joseph Moore saying Nvidia is “in a very advantageous position and its valuation is not at all burdensome”. [ 1 , 4 ]

The Seoul Economic Daily also pointed to supply-chain signals and rate expectations. It reported that Foxconn, a major AI server manufacturing partner, posted third-quarter revenue of NT$3.03 trillion, up 47% from a year earlier and above market forecasts, and that US September non-farm payrolls rose 29,000 against a market forecast of 90,000, which it said cut the probability priced for an October Federal Reserve rate increase from around 60% a week earlier to around 20%. The same outlet said the US 10-year Treasury yield rose to 5.347%, the highest since April 3, 2002. [ 4 ]

In Seoul, Nvidia-linked suppliers rallied. The Maeil Business reported that at around 10:30 local time Doosan was trading 8.72% higher at 1,458,000 won, after saying it would invest a total of 970 billion won over three years to expand high-end copper-clad laminate capacity, and with expectations that its electronics unit would post a record quarter on Nvidia-related sales growth. Yang Seung-soo, a researcher at Meritz Securities, said the expansion was “a positive change” that eases concerns about limited capital spending. LG Electronics was up 6.48% at 230,000 won after its US unit signed a long-term supply agreement with Air Control Concepts for chillers for AI data centres, covering 5 gigawatts of capacity; the company had secured 600 billion won of cooling-solution orders in the first half and had about 3 trillion won of orders in progress, the report said. [ 3 ]

Yonhap said the gains in AI-related stocks lifted the Nasdaq Composite to a record 27,477.31, up 1.05%, with SpaceX up 7.6%, Meta Platforms up 1.9% and Microsoft up 1.5%. The Dong-A Ilbo, citing Reuters, said strength in large technology stocks including Nvidia and Microsoft pushed the Nasdaq to a record close. [ 1 , 2 ]

The outlets differed slightly in currency conversions. Yonhap put Nvidia's market capitalisation at about 7,824 trillion won and the buyback at about 204 trillion won, while the Dong-A Ilbo put the market value at about 7,738 trillion won. Both the Dong-A Ilbo and the Seoul Economic Daily described the $6 trillion level as about 8,061 trillion won. [ 1 , 2 , 4 ]