Fearing the rise of DRAM costs in near future, Samsung’s institutional investors sold a large chunk of their holdings in the company, causing the over-all market prices of Samsung shares to drop sharply.
It’s said that institutional and foreign investors had sold about 30 billion won and 9.8 billion won worth of stock, respectively. This panic-selling impacted the Korea Composite Stock Price Index too, of which Samsung is a critical part.
Fears Over DRAM Costs
Samsung recently announced that it started mass-producing chips based on a 3nm process node – the most advanced chip foundry yet. This puts Samsung ahead in the race in the chip industry, where TSMC leads all the time.
Yet, the investors aren’t happy! On Friday, Samsung recorded its lowest share price drop in 22 months, at 56,200 won ($43.28) a piece. Institutional investors primarily drove this panic selling, reports The Korea Times.
As per it, institutional and foreign investors reportedly sold 30 billion won and 9.8 billion won worth of stock, resulting in a sharp decline in Samsung’s share prices on Friday. And it’s becoming of fears looming around the company’s DRAM business.
Though Samsung’s recent Galaxy S22 series was a hit and is even advancing in the chip industry, investors are concerned about the potential rise in DRAM costs soon. Factors like the coronavirus lockdowns in Shanghai, China, and the possibility of a recession have triggered panic selling of Samsung shares.
This drop was so significant that South Korea’s stock market index – the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) too was slipped by a considerable margin and closed at 2,305.42 points on Friday. This shows how deeply Samsung is integrated into the Korean economy in several sectors.
Analysts predicted chip shortages and supply chain issues to last until early 2023, considering the Ukraine-Russia war, possible lockdowns in Shanghai due to COVID-19, and other factors.
