00:02SK Hynix just posted a 76% operating margin.
00:08Korea's stock market lost 864 trillion won in value before regulators stepped in.
00:1447 trillion won left Korean crypto exchanges for overseas platforms this year alone.
00:21And Europe just became a bigger market for K-beauty than North America.
00:26It's Thursday, July 30th.
00:29Let's get into one of Korea's top economic stories today.
00:33Global demand for high-bandwidth memory chips used in AI servers has driven an unprecedented
00:39earnings cycle for Korean chip makers.
00:42At the same time, a sharp sell-off triggered panic selling among retail investors,
00:47wiping out market value in a single trading session.
00:51Meanwhile, Korean investors continue moving funds to overseas crypto exchanges,
00:55and Chinese tech firms squeezed out of Hong Kong listings are turning to Russia instead.
01:01Here's what the numbers show.
01:04SK Hynix posted 79.3 trillion won in quarterly revenue and 60.5 trillion won in operating profit,
01:12a 76% margin, driven by HBM4 demand from AI chip makers.
01:19SK Hynix began early mass production of HBM4 at its Chungju M15x fab this quarter.
01:27The earnings surge puts SK Hynix on track to top 300 trillion won in annual revenue, a first for the
01:34company.
01:34The KOSPI closed at 5,663.24, down 360.42 points, while the KOSDAQ fell to 662.68, down 43
01:48.17 points,
01:50after a session that erased 864 trillion won in market capitalization.
01:55The route triggered an emergency meeting among Korea's top financial policymakers, known as F4,
02:02though the meeting came only after the panic selling had already hit retail investors.
02:07Korean investors moved 47 trillion won to overseas crypto exchanges in the first half of the year.
02:15Regulatory uncertainty around leveraged crypto products at home continues to push that capital toward markets like Dubai.
02:23Korea's K-beauty exports to Europe reached 2.3 trillion won in the first half,
02:29overtaking North America as a destination for the first time.
02:33So what does this mean for readers following Korea's economic direction?
02:37Earlier, we said SK Hynix hit a 76% margin. Here's what that actually means for you.
02:44Korea's chip sector is no longer just riding a cyclical rebound,
02:47it's setting a historic profit record that could reshape the country's growth outlook for the year.
02:53The market crash shows how quickly retail-driven panic can move Korean equities,
02:59even as the underlying tech story stays strong.
03:02And the shift of capital toward crypto and beauty exports abroad signals Korean money and Korean brands
03:09are increasingly finding better returns overseas than at home.
03:13That's today's AI Prism, Front Page Daily.
03:17This episode was produced with AI assistance based on Seoul Economic Daily reporting
03:22and reviewed by a human editor.
03:25AI Prism is a Juan Ifra Award-winning series.
03:29We'll be back tomorrow.
03:30Welcome to this episode.
03:33Episode 3
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