Samsung and SK Hynix are selling more chips than ever. Their shipments to AI companies are up sharply. Yet their stock prices keep dropping. That's the puzzle of June 2026.

The Stock Drops

On June 23, both Korean chipmakers lost 12% of their value in Seoul. This happened as technology stocks were falling across the world, according to CNBC. Three days later, on June 26, another big chip company called Micron also fell sharply, per the WSJ. Then something odd occurred: on June 29, U.S. tech stocks bounced back up 2%, but Samsung and SK Hynix shares fell again in Seoul. American stocks recovered. Korean chip stocks did not.

This gap is telling. Memory chip stocks (the ones that make the specialized memory that powers AI) usually move with investor expectations about how much money big tech companies will spend on AI infrastructure. When those expectations get smaller — whether from interest rate worries or just traders selling — memory stocks tend to fall harder than everything else.

The Business Reality

What makes this confusing is the real data coming in at the same time. On July 1, the WSJ reported that South Korea's exports were surging, mainly because of AI chips from Samsung and SK Hynix. Export numbers show what actually shipped—not guesses about what will ship.

Samsung reported its first-quarter 2026 results with revenue of KRW 133.9 trillion, per its official earnings release. SK Hynix also posted strong first-quarter results on April 23 and was presenting those numbers to investors by May 14. The business is clearly doing well.

Yet Samsung's stock is still way up. As of late June, it was up 160% so far that year and 412% over the past twelve months, according to NBC News. A 12% drop stings, but when a stock has quadrupled, one bad day is a speed bump, not a crash.

What's Actually Happening

The real issue is that the stock price has gotten way ahead of itself. Think of it this way: if investors have already decided to bid a stock from $100 to $512 in one year because they're betting on perfectly executed growth, there's almost no room left for even a small disappointment. The price reflects a company doing everything right with barely any margin for error.

When that kind of stretched-out expectation meets any reason to worry — a pause in spending plans, a slower quarter, a company missing guidance by even a little — the stock can drop 12% in a day. That's what happened in June. Too many investors owned it at too high a price, and when some decided to sell, others panicked.

On a practical note: SK Hynix is listed only on the Korean stock exchange. As of early July 2026, it hasn't announced plans to list in the United States. That means U.S. investors have to jump through extra hoops to own it directly.

The real test comes when Samsung reports its second-quarter results, which it announced would arrive sometime after April 7, 2026. That earnings report will show whether the big chip shipments and strong exports actually led to profit growth—and whether the stock's 412% run has any room left to keep going.

Right now: the chips are selling. The business is good. The stock is extremely expensive. The June sell-off shows investors are starting to question whether the price makes sense anymore.