Seohak ants (Korean retail investors buying foreign stocks) have sold off large-cap semiconductor stocks such as NVIDIA and Micron this month, while actively purchasing exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track three times the performance of the semiconductor index.
According to data from Korea Securities Depository on September 6, Seohak ants sold approximately 100 million dollars worth of shares in U.S. memory semiconductor company Micron from September 1–4.
They also net-sold 68.61 million dollars worth of SanDisk (a NAND flash memory semiconductor company), 49.37 million dollars worth of Marvell Technology (a company specializing in data center networking, communications, and custom semiconductors), and 15.56 million dollars worth of NVIDIA, the world’s largest semiconductor company by market capitalization.
SK Hynix American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) also shifted to net selling this month. Since SK Hynix ADRs listed on the New York Stock Exchange in July this year, Seohak ants had net-purchased 810.97 million dollars worth until the end of last month, but sold 46.16 million dollars worth in September.
While selling individual semiconductor stocks, they purchased 430.95 million dollars worth of SOXL, a leveraged ETF that follows three times the performance of the U.S. Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, during the same period.
As of the end of last month, Seohak ants held 5.2317 billion dollars worth of SOXL and continued net-purchasing in September. After selling 752.44 million dollars worth on August 28 and 31, they resumed buying in September.
This appears to reflect an intention to realize short-term gains from surging semiconductor stocks while maximizing returns from the sector. Amid concerns over “peakout”—where individual semiconductor companies’ earnings may have reached their peak—it suggests a strategy to avoid risks tied to specific stocks while still participating in the growth of the artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductor industries.
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