# KOSPI nears 9,000, Nikkei tops 70,000 as AI memory surge lifts Asian markets
> SK Hynix surged 13% and Samsung 5% after Micron's record quarterly results confirmed HBM dominance; Korea's benchmark hit an all-time high as Japan's crossed 70,000 for the first time

**Meta:** type: story · date: 2026-06-25 · heads: Whose Money, The Long Game · 3 takes · 2 lenses · 3 regions

## Summary

KOSPI reached 8,936 on June 25, its highest closing level on record and approaching the 9,000 level for the first time, while the Nikkei 225 crossed 70,000 for the first time ever. The catalyst was Micron Technology's Q3 2026 results: $41.5B in revenue with HBM3e shipments running at capacity, confirming that AI memory demand is structural. SK Hynix gained 13% and Samsung 5% in Seoul trading. Korea and Japan's indices are both up more than 60% year-to-date, against the S&P 500's 28%.

## Why it matters

Asian tech markets outperforming Wall Street by this margin signals that AI-supply-chain exposure is repricing from US software multiples toward hardware multiples. The KOSPI move compounds the SK Hynix market-cap overtake of Samsung on June 22 and sets the terms for how US institutions price the SK Hynix Nasdaq ADR when it prices later this year.

## What to watch

- SK Hynix Nasdaq ADR final terms and whether it opens at a premium to the Seoul listing.
- Whether Samsung closes the HBM yield gap before Nvidia's next-generation chip allocation window.
- MSCI index rebalancing implications as KOSPI approaches benchmark weighting thresholds.

## Regional takes (batched by bias / lens)

### US markets
- **Bloomberg** (United States, en) — Lead market coverage linking Micron's Q3 beat ($41.5B revenue, HBM3e at capacity) to the KOSPI and Nikkei milestones; argues the planned SK Hynix Nasdaq ADR will attract a new wave of US institutional buyers and compress the valuation gap between Korean and US chip listings.
  > "Micron's record quarter and the SK Hynix ADR pipeline have reset the bull case for Korean and Japanese chip equities."
  Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-25/sk-hynix-adr-seen-driving-30-upside-as-micron-gap-narrows

### unlabelled
- **Korea Economic Daily** (South Korea, ko) — 
  Source: https://www.kedglobal.com/
- **Nikkei Asia** (Japan, ja) — 
  Source: https://asia.nikkei.com/

## Across the graph
- Related: [[sk-hynix-samsung-market-cap-flip]], [[micron-q3-2026-record-hbm]], [[us-pce-may-2026]], [[apple-price-hike-memory-jun25]]
- Entities: Sk Hynix, South Korea, Samsung, Micron, Japan

---
Canonical: https://rbtfl.xyz/en/n/kospi-nikkei-milestone-jun25