Korean Retail Net Buys in Japan Semi Supply Chain Surge 73% in Top 10

South Korean retail investors shifted capital to Japanese semiconductor stocks, with six of the top ten net buys being semi-related. Kokusai Electric saw profit-taking after a rally.

Woofun AI data shows that South Korean retail investors directed significant capital toward Japan's semiconductor supply chain between August 3 and 14. Mitsubishi led net purchases with approximately $5.319 million, followed by Tokyo Electron at $2.262 million. Six of the top ten stocks by net purchase volume were semiconductor or electronic component firms, totaling $14.367 million, which accounted for 73% of the aggregate net buys in this group. This marks a shift from July, when financial stocks like Mitsubishi UFJ dominated, as those have since dropped out of the top fifty.

Kabushiki Kaisha Kokusai Electric Corporation experienced a 16% price increase from late July to August 14, rising from 46,500 yen to 53,740 yen following a prior 48% decline. While Korean investors held net long positions worth $970,000 through August 13, they executed net sales of approximately $3.745 million between August 3 and 14, making it the second-largest net seller. This activity coincides with the joint launch of ninth-generation 2Tb QLC flash memory by Kokusai Electric and SanDisk, targeting AI applications, alongside SanDisk's revenue growth targets for fiscal years 2028 to 2030.