[Featured Stock] Gaon Chips, No.1 NPU Technology in AI 'Gold Rush'... At the Start of Explosive Profit Growth

Gaonchips is showing strong performance. As competition between NVIDIA and the anti-NVIDIA camp intensifies, demand for artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors is surging. Securities firms have analyzed that for AI popularization, the focus will shift to inference AI semiconductors that combine power efficiency and cost-effectiveness, namely custom semiconductors (NPU). Dongwon Kim, a researcher at KB Securities, predicted, "Gaonchips, the No. 1 NPU design house, will benefit from the AI semiconductor gold rush."

As of 10:27 AM on the 12th, Gaonchips was trading at 111,900 KRW, up 7,000 KRW (6.67%) from the previous trading day.

Researcher Kim explained, "Memory semiconductor companies have focused only on new investments centered on AI semiconductors such as HBM and DDR5, and on transitioning general-purpose semiconductor production lines to advanced processes. As a result, the production capacity of existing legacy DRAM and NAND has naturally decreased as of the second quarter, causing a supply shortage."

He added, "Samsung Electronics plans to supply its self-developed AI inference chip (Maha1) to Naver's inference servers," and "Intel will also cooperate in running Naver's AI services by building a platform based on its self-developed AI inference chip (Gaudi), moving away from CUDA."

He stated, "AI, which can be compared to the invention of the steam engine in the 21st century, will greatly change the entire industrial landscape in terms of productivity improvement and cost efficiency," and predicted, "AI semiconductors, which are the core of AI infrastructure construction, will become an essential portfolio from a long-term perspective."

Minjung Kwak, a researcher at Hyundai Motor Securities, analyzed, "Gaonchips established a U.S. subsidiary in January this year, securing a foothold to gain customers and competitiveness in the U.S. market as a partner of Samsung Foundry and ARM," and added, "This will significantly contribute to performance and orders." She also noted, "The proportion of IP development sales is continuously increasing."

Researcher Kwak analyzed, "Due to its high technology and engineer acquisition comparable to global design houses, a portfolio focused on automotive and AI semiconductors optimized for advanced processes, continuous order momentum, and a high entry barrier secured by the increasing proportion of IP development sales, it is reasonable for Gaonchips to receive a high valuation among domestic design houses." She raised the target stock price to 170,000 KRW.