Foreign Investors Flee South Korean Stocks as AI Boom Loses Steam

3-line summary

• Foreign investors have pulled a record $131 billion net from South Korean stocks this year as the AI-driven rally cools, Bloomberg-sourced data cited by Investing.com shows — the largest outflow among major Asian markets.
• The KOSPI has fallen 22% in the second half of 2026 after leading major indexes earlier in the year on AI memory-chip demand; trading turnover is down about 70% from its late-May peak.
• Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which together account for more than half the KOSPI's weighting, both declined even as Samsung reported roughly ninefold growth in quarterly operating profit, amid investor doubts over how long the chip boom can last.

This summary is our own processing of the source article; see the source link below for full context.