KRW1, the world's first KRW-pegged stablecoin, is coming to Aptos. @BDACSKorea chose Aptos, the full stack for markets and machines to power onchain commerce across Korea and beyond, for a reason. The demand is here. Aptos is ready.

Korea's won is coming to Aptos. @BDACSKorea is deploying KRW1, the world's first KRW-pegged stablecoin, on Aptos — its first non-EVM chain — to power onchain commerce across Korea and beyond: payments, B2B settlement, and RWA tokenization. Full details:

Simmtech (222800 KQ) is spending KRW274.2 billion to expand the SOCAMM boards and package substrates used in $NVDA’s Vera CPU systems. SOCAMM pairs LPDDR5X memory with Vera in Rubin systems, separate from the HBM attached to the GPUs. Each module uses four LPDDR5X packages, a module PCB and MCP substrates. About KRW150 billion will go toward a dedicated SOCAMM module PCB plant. Annual capacity is set to rise from KRW300 billion to KRW500 billion on a sales basis, with production starting in stages in 2028. Another KRW120 billion will expand LPDDR5X MCP substrates and high-layer mSAP boards. Simmtech expects KRW230 billion in SOCAMM-related revenue this year: KRW150 billion from module PCBs and KRW80 billion from MCP substrates.

SK hynix (Market Cap: KRW 1,132.2632 trillion) 2Q26 Earnings Results ▶️ Results: Revenue: KRW 79 trillion (+257% YoY) (Consensus: KRW 84 trillion; 5.5% below consensus) Operating profit: KRW 61 trillion (+557% YoY) (Consensus OP: KRW 64 trillion; 5.4% below consensus) Operating margin: 76.3% (Consensus OPM: 76.2%; 0.1%p above consensus)

▶ Samsung Electro-Mechanics Signs Major Supply Contract - Counterparty: A major global company - Contract: MLCC supply agreement - Contract value: KRW 1.0722 trillion (9.5% of annual revenue) - Contract period: January 1, 2027 – December 31, 2027 (1 year) Source: DART

Samsung and SK Hynix shook off early weakness and closed higher. Samsung finished up 3.9% at KRW 281,500 after dipping as low as 1.5% in the morning. SK Hynix rose 2.3% to KRW 1.73 million. Overnight US markets were soft on rising Treasury yields, yet the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index still gained and memory names advanced. SK Hynix’s ADR rose more than 4%. Analysts point to shareholder-return momentum as the main support. SK Hynix’s large buyback and cancellation plan, plus expectations around a potential major Samsung special dividend, continue to attract buyers.

Korean memory stocks are *not* weak because of rumours that the U.S. will impose tariffs on Korean semiconductors. There are other drivers: 1. Retail net-buying for KOSPI has dropped by 90% from July (KRW 54.5T) to August (KRW 5.4T) - before talks of tariffs even intensified. 2. Retail brokerage account deposits have dropped to under KRW 100T for a whole week. In general, Koreans have less dry powder in their investing accounts vs. H1. 3. This is because Korean's are funneling their cash into bank accounts - deposits at Korea's top 5 banks increased in July-August to above KRW 1,000T for the first time. Simply, retail investors are more cautious right now. Tariff talk obviously doesn't help, but it's not the driver for the weakness in my opinion. Going forwards, I ultimately think foreign inflows will be more and more critical for KOSPI.

📈 #NVIDIA# RTX 50 graphics cards could rise by up to 30% in Korea from August as #TSMC# 4nm wafer and #GDDR7# memory costs increase. RTX 5090 (32GB) prices are already up by as much as KRW 1.5 million since mid-July.💡More: 🔗

BNK Investment & Securities, the local Korean brokerage that foreshadowed the KOSPI’s decline by cutting its price target for SK hynix to KRW 1.85 million when the index was at 7,700, lowered its target again today to KRW 1.48 million. (In Korea, issuing an outright Sell report is virtually impossible, so a price-target cut effectively amounts to a Sell call.)

Some thoughts on the AI trade. Going forwards, I think it'll be mega important to be more selective when picking AI stocks. I think the era of mining for new bottlenecks like gold in a riverbed is exhausted. Basically... I think taking a longer-term, buy-and-hold view to stock picking will become more important now. Plainly - high quality companies. (I explain what this might look like below). In H1, we saw any and every AI beneficary get re-rated from low -> fair -> high valuations. That includes tiny microcaps from Europe and Asia where huge returns were enjoyed if you capitalized on the "bottleneck" trade. However, if we use KOSPI as a proxy for retail froth, it's pretty clear that investors are now positioning way more cautiously than H1. Retail net equity buying has dropped by ~90% since July, and investors are instead depositing cash into bank accounts - deposits at Korea's top 5 banks increased in Jul-Aug to above KRW 1,000T for the first time. This could change quickly once the macro environment clears up with time, but ultimately, I still believe that the core bottlenecks will continue to persist - memory, power, photonics etc etc. We all know the list by now. But...within those bottlenecks...which companies will generate the strongest ROI and cash conversion? I think this is the question that most investors should be asking more intensely given how intricate semiconductor financing has become AND the sheer scale of capital in play. In that sense, which companies have the most/longest visibility over demand into the future? And of those, which companies can hike prices so they don't lose out on any of that demand to competitors? An easy example that comes to mind is NVIDIA. Regardless, I think it's that level of certainty that investors are now looking for, rather than H1 where supply chain mapping carried those outsized returns in small caps. Personally, I'm still expecting momentum in the AI trade to continue and still hold some small cap names from H1 as moonshot bets (also some cash for additional fun bets). But, I've repositioned to have a significantly higher concentration in names I view as the bottleneck winner(s) vs. H1. But TLDR: I think it makes sense to now take a longer-term view to your positioning in the AI trade. Which companies are FCF positive/growing? Which have pricing power and possess critical components/materials/infra that can't be designed/competed away? Going forwards, I think these questions will be more and more important as the AI trade matures.