Shares in chipmakers underpinning AI boom rocket in first half of 2026

South Korea’s Kospi index is up 125% this year, driven by a 310% jump in the share price of SK Hynix and a 183% rise in the share price of Samsung. Photograph: Dado Ruvić/Reuters

Shares in chipmakers have surged in the first half of this year as investors piled into companies that make the hardware underpinning the AI boom, according to analysis.

Investors have driven up the value of semiconductor and memory chip manufacturers, whose profits have soared during 2026, at the expense of some large software companies, which have fallen out of favour this year.