Nvidia nears $6 trillion value; Korean chipmakers Samsung and SK Hynix lag

Nvidia shares closed 2.1% higher at $238.90 on October 5 local time in New York, 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. The Chosun Ilbo reported that the stock set another record on October 6 local time, and the Maeil Business described the run as a fourth consecutive session of gains. [ 1 , 2 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]

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, the Dong-A Ilbo and the Seoul Economic Daily. CNBC, cited by Yonhap and the Seoul Economic Daily, analysed options prices and put the probability of reaching $6 trillion by the end of October at about 50%, with a 13% probability within the week, about 67% by December 18 and about 6% for $7 trillion by November 20. [ 1 , 2 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]

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 ]

Korean coverage also turned to the contrast at home. The Dong-A Ilbo reported that Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have been unable to rebound amid AI “peak-out” concerns, investor anxiety after record volatility in the Korean market in July and expectations that a weaker won would hurt export price competitiveness and push results below market forecasts. The Maeil Business asked why the two chipmakers remain sluggish while Nvidia sets records, and the Kukmin Ilbo reported that Korean retail investors in US stocks are shifting back toward the US market. [ 6 , 8 , 9 ]