Sho-Time: Korea Trip Feedback

Research evidence excerpt

Sho-Time: Korea Trip Feedback

IdeaMequities remains intact, fiscal credibility seemed to be seen as an important driver of the

medium-term risk premium.

Investor sentiment on AI and data center investment remained broadly bullish: In the

near term, investors recognize risks from stretched valuations and quarter-end/quarter-

beginning portfolio rebalancing. However, most Korean investors believe that expansion in

computing capacity to support explosive growth in data processing will continue over the

coming years, with demand growth benefiting the entire AI supply chain across Japan,

Korea, and Taiwan.

The next AI investment bottleneck attracting investor attention seems to be X-ray

inspection technology: As generative AI adoption accelerates, demand is expanding

rapidly not only for GPUs and ASICs, but also for the high-performance memory that

supports them. High-bandwidth memory (HBM), for example, requires multiple memory

chips to be stacked with extreme precision and interconnected through microscopic

bonding structures to enable high-speed, high-capacity data processing. As these

architectures become increasingly complex, the ability to detect internal misalignment,

bonding defects, voids, and cracks becomes ever more critical.

Within the inspection segment, Test & Assembly equipment has been the market leader

so far. This category includes probe cards, test sockets, and hybrid bonding-related

equipment. These companies have benefited from longer testing times associated with the

volume production of HBM and advanced memory, rising demand for probes and sockets,

and increasingly sophisticated bonding processes. As a result, their share price

performance has closely tracked that of memory-related stocks ( Exhibit 3 ).