[Special Stock] HPSP Rises on Expectations of Increased US AI Infrastructure Investment

HPSP is showing strong performance in the early trading session. This appears to be due to improved investor sentiment toward domestic AI-related stocks following U.S. President Donald Trump's declaration to expand investments in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.

As of 9:55 a.m. on the 24th, HPSP was trading at 33,000 KRW, up 1,850 KRW (5.94%) compared to the previous session. Recognized as a leading semiconductor stock on the KOSDAQ, HPSP has recently attracted market attention with its on-device AI theme. On the 21st, President Trump gathered leaders from OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank to announce the establishment of an AI joint venture called 'Stargate,' pledging at least $500 billion (approximately 719 trillion KRW) in investment, which has boosted related beneficiary stocks recently.

HPSP's record-breaking performance in the fourth quarter is also considered a factor supporting its stock price. Cha Min-sook, a researcher at Korea Investment & Securities, commented on HPSP, stating, "We expect the fourth-quarter 2024 revenue to increase by 112% year-over-year to 64.6 billion KRW, and operating profit to rise by 172% to 33 billion KRW, marking the highest quarterly revenue ever." She added, "Expansion of sales to new customers as well as existing clients like TSMC is anticipated."

The depreciation of the Korean won is also favorable for HPSP. Researcher Cha explained, "Since most of the revenue comes from exports, the rise in the KRW-USD exchange rate likely had a positive impact on performance," and noted, "Although the share of equipment sales for domestic customers' NAND has decreased due to reduced NAND investments, sales to overseas DRAM customers continue steadily, and customer diversification along with new equipment certifications are progressing smoothly as planned."

She further added, "TSMC, the company's main client, recently mentioned an increase in capital expenditures (CAPEX) during its earnings announcement. Since 70% of the CAPEX is expected to be allocated to front-end processes, benefits to the company can be anticipated in the second half of 2025."