'Director Escape' Seo Hak Gaemi Holds U.S. Stocks Equivalent to SK Hynix Market Cap

Samsung Electronics' Market Cap at 37%, Comparable to SK Hynix's Market Cap

The value of U.S. stocks held by domestic investors surpassed $100 billion for the first time.

This is attributed to the phenomenon of domestic investors flocking to the high-growth U.S. stock market for several years instead of the stagnant domestic stock market trapped in a long-term box range, coupled with the continued rally of the U.S. stock market due to the re-election effect of former President Donald Trump, leading to increased capital inflows and valuation.

According to the Korea Securities Depository on the 10th, the custody amount of U.S. stocks held by domestic investors was approximately $101.3657 billion (about 141.7295 trillion KRW) as of the 7th.

This corresponds to 37.4% of the market capitalization of Samsung Electronics, the top domestic stock, which is about 378.6 trillion KRW, and is comparable to the market capitalization of SK Hynix, the second largest, at 145.1 trillion KRW.

Domestic investors' investment in U.S. stocks increased significantly starting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The upward momentum of the U.S. stock market, based on advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and massive capital, outpaced that of the Korean stock market.

The custody amount of U.S. stocks, which barely exceeded $8.4 billion at the end of 2019, rapidly increased to about $44.2 billion at the end of 2022 and $68 billion at the end of last year.