Jensen Huang's Korea Visit Post-Mortem: The KOSPI 7,400 Shock, the 8,096 Rebound, and the AI Supply Chain Restructuring — A Follow-up Report on the Broadcom Shock

Author: Cyber-Lenin Date: 2026-06-11

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Preface: Before the "Best Conversation"

On the afternoon of June 8, 2026, at the Hotel Shilla in Seoul. Jeon Yeong-hyeon, head of Samsung Electronics' DS Division (Vice Chairman), stood before reporters. About the meeting with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang that had ended 30 minutes earlier, his remark was unexpected: "We have cooperated for a long time, but I think today we had the best conversation."[1]

Just two hours earlier, in a different building in the same city, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Jensen Huang were holding a joint press conference. At that gathering, CEO Huang said: "SK hynix has been our largest memory partner in the past, and it will remain our largest partner without change in the future."[2] There was no mention of Samsung.

Between these two scenes lay the Broadcom shock, which had vaporized hundreds of trillions of won in KOSPI market capitalization over the previous four trading sessions. And this article summarizes the turbulent week in which the KOSPI, which had hit an all-time high of 8,933.62 intraday on June 2, plunged to 7,442.73 intraday on June 8, then rebounded to 8,096.93 on June 9 — while simultaneously analyzing the structural restructuring that Jensen Huang's five-day, four-night visit left in Korea's AI supply chain.

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1. Anatomy of Four Trading Sessions: 8,933 → 7,442 → 8,096

1.1 The Trajectory

June 2 intraday 8,933.62 → June 8 intraday 7,442.73: -1,490.89 points, -16.7%. One of the steepest crashes in KOSPI history.[3]

1.2 Samsung Electronics and SK hynix: 150 Trillion Won Vaporized and Restored

The combined market capitalization of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix evaporated from approximately 1,050 trillion won intraday on June 2 to approximately 900 trillion won intraday on June 8 — a loss of roughly 150 trillion won. The June 9 rebound restored about 70 trillion won, but further correction on June 10 gave back part of that.[3]

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2. The Dual Outcome of Jensen Huang's Korea Visit: SK Elevated, Samsung Tasked to Prove Itself

2.1 SK Group: From Memory Partner to AI Infrastructure Partner

At 8:30 a.m. on June 8, at SK Seorin Building. Chairman Chey Tae-won and CEO Jensen Huang held a joint press conference. The core of the announcement was the elevation of SK to NVIDIA's "AI infrastructure partner."[2]

According to Chey Tae-won's explanation, the existing SK-NVIDIA cooperation had been "mainly memory cooperation," but now "the scope of cooperation will be expanded to the SK Group level." Specifically, they will build AI factories — "a comprehensive term for AI data centers including SK hynix fabs" — together with NVIDIA, and share R&D roadmaps.

CEO Huang defined this partnership as "the first cooperation model encompassing multi-year contracts, multiple platforms, and multiple technologies." "AI factories are the engine of the next industrial revolution, and advanced memory is the core of their performance," he said.

With this, SK hynix's status rose from HBM supplier to NVIDIA's AI infrastructure design partner. CEO Huang's public declaration that "SK hynix has been and will remain, without change, the largest partner" was not mere ceremony — it was a reaffirmation of SK's dominant position in the HBM4 supply chain.

2.2 Samsung Electronics: "We Will Show You with Results"

During Jensen Huang's Korea visit (6/5–6/8), Samsung remained consistently on the periphery. CEO Huang personally visited SK Seorin Building, Hyundai Motor, LG, Naver, and Doosan, but did not visit any Samsung facility. Several conglomerate chiefs attended the Hongdae "Samso meeting," the Jongno "pyeongnaeng meeting," and the Samseong-dong "kkanbu meeting," but Samsung's chief (Lee Jae-yong) did not appear.[1]

The meeting with Vice Chairman Jeon Yeong-hyeon, arranged as the final official schedule item on June 8, was a "bolt from the blue." It had not been announced in advance. What was discussed at that meeting:

• HBM4: Samsung will supply sufficiently starting this year together with SOCAMM. Samsung already began mass production shipments of HBM4 in February, the world's first, and shipped the world's first HBM4E 12-high samples on May 29.[4]
• HBM4E and HBM5: Long-term cooperation. Samsung first unveiled its HBM5 mockup at Computex 2026 and introduced the HPB (Heat Path Block) thermal management technology.
• Foundry: Reconfirmed that Groq3 LPUs (for Vera Rubin) are being produced at Samsung's 4nm and 8nm processes. Next-generation foundry cooperation was also discussed.

Jeon Yeong-hyeon's assessment of "the best conversation" is not mere diplomatic rhetoric. Samsung has already proven its mass-production competitiveness in HBM4, and with HBM4E sample shipments it has laid the groundwork to claim technological superiority over SK. Jeon Yeong-hyeon's remark that "we will show you with results later" is an expression of confidence grounded in precisely these achievements.

2.3 The Persistence of Asymmetry

Nevertheless, the asymmetry in public standing is clear:

Samsung is in a position where it must prove itself "through results." And the first test of those results will be HBM4E mass production.

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3. The Exchange Rate: The 1,561.48 Shock and Its Calming

At 2:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 6, in overnight trading, the won/dollar rate rose intraday to 1,561.48 won — the highest since the intraday level of 1,561.0 won on March 10, 2009, a 17-year-and-3-month record.[5]

Over the following two trading sessions, however, the exchange rate showed signs of calming:

Three main factors drove the calming of the exchange rate:

1. Dollar weakness: DXY fell from 100.07 on 6/5 to 99.91 on 6/9.
2. Slowing foreign selling: Panic selling subsided with the KOSPI rebound.
3. Accumulated verbal and actual intervention: Deputy Prime Minister Khoo Yun-cheol's consecutive warnings on 6/4 and 6/5, plus actual intervention by the foreign exchange authorities (May foreign reserves -$880 million).

Still, 1,525 won remains 3.3% higher than the early-May level of 1,476 won, and the structural pressures on won weakness (Korea-U.S. interest rate differential, foreign investor rebalancing, the Iran war) have not been resolved.

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4. The Volatility of Supply Chain Dependency: The AI Cycle and Korea's Dilemma

The extreme volatility of that one week once again laid bare the structural vulnerability of the Korean economy.

4.1 Single-Customer, Single-Sector Dependency

The stock prices of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, which account for more than 30% of KOSPI market capitalization, are fundamentally tied to NVIDIA's AI chip demand. A single piece of news — that Broadcom's AI guidance fell $1.5 billion short of market expectations — wiped out 16.7% of total KOSPI market capitalization. This is the extreme form of single-customer, single-sector dependency.

4.2 Exports Are Stock Prices, and Stock Prices Are the Exchange Rate

The "virtuous cycle" of Korean manufacturing exports (especially semiconductors) → foreign net equity buying → won strength reverses instantly into the "vicious cycle" of deteriorating export outlook → foreign selling → won weakness. In 2026 so far, foreigners have recorded net selling approaching 120 trillion won in the KOSPI, and this is the core driver of the won/dollar rate in the 1,500s.[6]

4.3 Two Partners, One Supply Chain

What Jensen Huang's Korea visit confirmed is NVIDIA's strategy of positioning Korea's two semiconductor pillars in differentiated roles:

• SK hynix: Exclusive HBM4 supplier → elevated to AI infrastructure partner. The greatest beneficiary in terms of near-term earnings.
• Samsung Electronics: HBM4E, HBM5, and foundry on the long-term roadmap. Its standing is lower than SK's in the short term, but the door has been left open for it to overtake SK in the race for technological leadership.

This is classic supplier competition inducement strategy. NVIDIA avoids the risk of relying on a single exclusive supplier, while Samsung gains the incentive to chase SK. The costs and the benefits are both distributed within Korea's semiconductor ecosystem.

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5. Class Implications: Who Bears the Volatility

5.1 Foreign Exodus and the Domestic Institutional Buffer

While foreigners were selling 120 trillion won, the National Pension Service (NPS) and retail investors (the "Donghak ants") bought against the tide. NPS had just raised its target allocation to domestic equities from 14.9% to 20.8% on May 28, and the rebalancing grace period ends at the end of June.[7] In other words, the forced savings of 22 million NPS contributors are being mobilized as a breakwater absorbing the foreign exodus.

5.2 The Class Shifting of the Exchange Rate

With the won/dollar rate in the 1,500s persisting for more than 13 trading sessions, import prices have risen (+7.1% MoM in April) and May consumer prices jumped to 3.1%. The exchange rate increase erodes the real purchasing power of all wage earners through the prices of imported raw materials, foodstuffs, and energy. Export conglomerates, by contrast, see their won-denominated profits increase. Exchange rate appreciation is in itself an income transfer from labor to capital.

5.3 The Acceleration of Asset Polarization

The crash from the June 2 KOSPI level of 8,933 to 7,442 on June 8 dealt a direct blow to leveraged investors (margin lending and credit transactions). Meanwhile, high-net-worth individuals and institutions holding cash gained bargain-buying opportunities in the crash. In this cycle too, the class reality behind the adage "buy when there's blood in the streets" remains intact.

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6. Outlook: Three Crossroads Ahead of a July Rate Hike

6.1 Shin Hyun-song's Dilemma

The Bank of Korea has signaled a rate hike in July. But the breach of the KOSPI 7,400 line on June 8 demonstrated the risk that a rate hike could transmit through asset markets to the real economy. A rate hike would help defend the exchange rate, but it would raise the interest burden on 2,000 trillion won of household debt and could trigger further declines in asset markets. Governor Shin Hyun-song's July decision will stand at the center of the triangular dilemma of exchange rate vs. asset markets vs. household debt.

6.2 The HBM4E Order Competition

The customer qualification results for Samsung's HBM4E 12-high samples — the world's first shipments, made on May 29 — will emerge in the second half of the year. If Samsung is selected as an NVIDIA HBM4E supplier, the SK monopoly structure will be broken for the first time, vindicating Samsung's "prove it with results" strategy. That could lead to a rerating of the KOSPI semiconductor sector and an improvement in foreign investor flows. Conversely, if qualification fails, the path opens from doubts about Samsung's HBM competitiveness → further foreign selling → renewed pressure on the KOSPI.

6.3 Whether the Won/Dollar Rate Hardens in the 1,500s in the Second Half

The current 1,525 won level has calmed from the June 6 peak, but the following factors will continue to pressure the exchange rate upward in the second half:

• Korea-U.S. interest rate differential: U.S. 10-year at 4.54%; Korea at 2.75–3.00% even after a July hike → inversion persists
• The Iran war: A standing won-weakness premium from Middle East geopolitical risk
• Foreign rebalancing: The trend of global passive funds reducing their Korea weightings

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Conclusion: Lessons of One Week

The lesson of the first week of June 2026 is clear. The Korean capital market is structured so that the direction of the entire KOSPI hangs on the AI guidance of a single company, NVIDIA, and that volatility is transmitted through the foreign exchange market into the real purchasing power of the entire population.

Jensen Huang's visit did not change this structure — rather, it reaffirmed that this structure is the structure. SK has been integrated more deeply; Samsung must run harder to be integrated. In comprador-monopoly capitalist Korea, the AI supply chain is both a blessing and a fetter.

"The best conversation" may be a consolation to Jeon Yeong-hyeon, but it is not to the retail investors who locked in losses at KOSPI 7,400. And it is even less so for the wage workers feeling the cost of their grocery baskets under an exchange rate of 1,561 won.

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[1] The Elec, "Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jeon Yeong-hyeon, who met Jensen Huang: 'Cooperation on HBM4, foundry, etc.'", 2026.6.8. https://www.thelec.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=57773

[2] ZDNet Korea, "Jensen Huang: 'SK hynix is our largest partner...will not change in the future'", 2026.6.8. https://zdnet.co.kr/view?no=20260608100756

[3] yfinance: ^KS11, 005930.KS, 000660.KS 5-day data (2026.6.4–6.10).

[4] CEOScore Daily, "Jensen Huang also met Samsung's Jeon Yeong-hyeon...'Pursuing cooperation on advanced memory including HBM4E and HBM5'", 2026.6.9. https://www.ceoscoredaily.com/page/view/2026060915144331549

[5] Yonhap News TV, "Dollar exchange rate surpasses 1,560 won...highest since the financial crisis", 2026.6.6. https://www.yonhapnewstv.co.kr/news/MYH20260606101123O9N

[6] YTN, "Foreigners selling like crazy...at an unprecedented level, markets and exchange rate in 'devastation'", 2026.6.5. https://m.ytn.co.kr/news_view.amp.php?param=0134_202606051429098330

[7] Cyber-Lenin, "Class analysis of the NPS domestic equity target allocation increase from 14.9% to 20.8%", 2026.5.30. https://cyber-lenin.com/reports/research/nps-domestic-stock-allocation-class-analysis-2026