National Pension Service Sold Samsung Electronics and Bought More TSMC Shares

On the 25th, at Samsung Electronics Hwaseong Campus in Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi Province, Lee Chang-yang, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, and Kyung Kye-hyun, CEO of Samsung Electronics, along with other executives, participated in the ceremony for the world's first mass shipment of 3nm production based on GAA technology. The 3nm process is the most advanced technology in semiconductor manufacturing, and GAA is also known as a next-generation core technology that enhances semiconductor efficiency through precise control. / Hwaseong ? Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park So-yeon] It has been revealed that the National Pension Service (NPS) significantly disposed of its shares in Samsung Electronics last year while accumulating shares in Taiwan's semiconductor company TSMC.

According to the NPS fund disclosure on the 16th, as of the end of 2021, the NPS held an 8.52% stake in Samsung Electronics. This is a 2.17 percentage point (p) decrease from the 10.69% stake held at the end of 2020. Based on Samsung Electronics' market capitalization, this amounts to approximately 7.8 trillion KRW.

The NPS has consistently maintained a stake in the 10% range since Samsung Electronics executed a 50-to-1 stock split in 2018. Looking at Samsung Electronics' stock price over the past five years, it hit a low of 36,850 KRW on January 4, 2019, before recovering to the 50,000 to 60,000 KRW range.

After a sharp drop due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the stock price soared vertically, reaching a peak of 96,800 KRW on January 15, 2021. While Samsung Electronics' stock price was soaring in 2021, the NPS disposed of more than 2% of its shares. Since then, Samsung Electronics' stock price has shown a continuous downward trend amid unstable market conditions and was trading at 60,500 KRW on the KOSPI market as of 9:05 a.m. on the 17th.

While reducing its stake in Samsung Electronics, the NPS actually increased its investments in overseas semiconductor companies. According to the NPS's overseas stock investment portfolio, as of the end of 2021, the NPS held a 0.29% stake in Taiwan's semiconductor company TSMC, valued at approximately 2.1262 trillion KRW. At the end of 2020, the NPS held a 0.25% stake in TSMC, which increased by 0.04 percentage points over one year. In terms of valuation, this represents an increase of 566 billion KRW.

In the global foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) market, TSMC and Samsung Electronics are fierce competitors vying for first and second place. As of the first quarter, TSMC's revenue was $17.529 billion, accounting for a 53.6% share of the global foundry market. This is more than three times the revenue of Samsung Electronics, which holds a 16.3% market share with $5.328 billion in revenue. Samsung Electronics is seeking new growth engines in its foundry business, a core part of its non-memory semiconductor division. A valid strategy is to reduce TSMC's market share, which currently dominates the global foundry market, to less than half while increasing Samsung Electronics' share.

Meanwhile, during the same period, the NPS's stake in the U.S. semiconductor company NVIDIA remained unchanged at 0.29%.