CEO Bae Jae-gyu: "AI Utilization in All Industries Ahead... Semiconductor Investment Essential"

Hantoo Asset Management Holds '2024 ACE Semiconductor Press Conference'
"Focused Investment on Top Stocks in Each Semiconductor Sector is Key"

"Semiconductors are absolutely essential for implementing changes in world technology. As artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to be utilized across all industries in the future, semiconductor investment is indispensable."

Bae Jae-gyu, CEO of Korea Investment Trust Management, delivering a greeting at the '2024 ACE Semiconductor Press Conference' held on the 28th in Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by Yoo Hyun-seok

On the 28th, Bae Jae-gyu, CEO of Korea Investment Trust Management, made these remarks in his greeting at the '2024 ACE Semiconductor Press Conference' held at the Conrad Hotel.

CEO Bae emphasized, "The semiconductor industry is about to enter another major leap forward with the advent of the AI era following ChatGPT," adding, "I am pleased to hold an event where we can gain insights into the global semiconductor industry and examine the latest trends at this important time."

He added, "Semiconductors are the core of the future technology era," and "Their importance will continue to increase, and regardless of price fluctuations, they must be included in investment portfolios."

Professor Chris Miller, author of Chip War, explained in his keynote speech, "The advancement of AI systems increasingly requires high-performance semiconductor chips," and "the semiconductor industry is led by a few companies that have built moats through years of research and development and massive capital investment."

He continued, "The reason a few companies dominate is that it is the most complex type of manufacturing," emphasizing, "The number of competitive players is actually decreasing, and monopolies by a few companies will continue."

At the conference, speakers included Professor Kwon Seok-jun from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Polymer Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University and Kim Sun-woo, a research fellow at Meritz Securities. Professor Kwon, author of Semiconductor Samgukji, is a domestic semiconductor expert. Research fellow Kim is a renowned analyst in the semiconductor and display sectors.

Professor Kwon explained the current status and outlook of the global semiconductor market. He analyzed, "China's semiconductor industry is rapidly growing, but there are limits to sustained growth due to internal and external factors."

He emphasized, "The U.S. is restructuring the global semiconductor industry led by itself and its allies, Japan is seeking a resurgence in semiconductor manufacturing and plans to lead next-generation technologies," adding, "In the future, the global semiconductor supply chain will require protection of advanced industrial technologies as a national strategy amid new economic security issues and multilateral cooperation."

Kim Sun-woo, Research Fellow at Meritz Securities, presenting on the semiconductor market at the '2024 ACE Semiconductor Press Conference.' Photo by Yoo Hyun-seok

The second presentation was given by Research Fellow Kim Sun-woo, who shared semiconductor market forecasts. He said, "In the past, the semiconductor market experienced explosive growth driven by smartphones and PCs," and "AI will follow PCs and smartphones."

He stated, "The memory cycle is now approaching a rebound period," and "domestic semiconductor exports have shown a recovery trend since the second quarter of 2023, turning to growth in the fourth quarter, and the growth rate compared to the same period last year is expected to improve in the second half of this year."

He also predicted that related companies such as Nvidia and SK Hynix, whose stock prices have recently surged, have room for further increases. He said, "It will be a battle against oneself going forward," adding, "If expectations for performance or products exceed market forecasts, there is sufficient potential for further rises."

Finally, the presentation on global semiconductor investment strategies was given by Kim Seung-hyun, ETF Consulting Manager at Korea Investment Trust Management. Kim explained, "Semiconductor investment requires selecting products that reflect the rapidly changing market," and "the ACE Global Semiconductor TOP4 Plus SOLACTIVE Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) is a product that reflects the benefits of the AI-driven semiconductor industry."

He added, "This ETF embodies the winner-takes-all principle, which is key to semiconductor market investment, by focusing investments on the top-ranked stocks in each global semiconductor sector and offering diversification effects through the CHIP4 alliance of four countries centered on the U.S.," emphasizing, "Since its listing, it has shown steady growth, so expectations for future performance are high."