The Kospi, Kosdaq and won-dollar exchange rate are displayed on a screen at Hana Bank's headquarters dealing room in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Thursday. [Yonhap]
The Kospi, Kosdaq and won-dollar exchange rate are displayed on a screen at Hana Bank's headquarters dealing room in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Thursday. [Yonhap]

Dan Ives, a senior managing partner at Yorkville Ives widely known on Wall Street as a technology stock oracle, said the Kospi's recent sharp decline represents an excessive correction and offered a bold forecast that the index will surpass its all-time high within six to 12 months.

Ives made the remarks at a press briefing held Wednesday in Yeouido, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul.

Ives has analyzed technology stocks on Wall Street for more than 25 years. He built his reputation on early calls on Apple's services business growth and Tesla's share price rebound.

"I think the Kospi will break its all-time high within six to 12 months," Ives said. "The Korean stock market has undergone an excessively steep correction this year." He attributed the selloff to investor anxiety around technology companies, particularly memory chip makers. "Memory chips are an essential component as hyperscalers expand their operations, so the market will come to properly value these companies again," he said.

On the wave of foreign selling in Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, Ives said he believes it is "almost over." "There has been an excessive correction across the entire Korean market. The volatility centered on memory stocks lacks a solid basis," he said.

Ives said he included SK hynix among his top technology picks for this year, arguing that global investors have yet to fully appreciate the scale and growth potential of memory companies such as SK hynix, Micron and Samsung Electronics.

He added that he rates SK hynix relatively highly heading into 2026 as a company strategically positioned to better monetize the AI revolution. Samsung Electronics could see its fortunes change next year, he said, given its strengths in the mobile and consumer segments.

Ives also said leading memory companies in Korea and elsewhere are roughly three years ahead of China technologically. "Korea is playing a leading role not only in memory chips but also in AI models, software, infrastructure and energy," he said, adding that the current situation in Korea resembles Silicon Valley in the mid-1990s.

Ives puts 80% odds on Tesla-SpaceX merger

Elon Musk [Getty Images]
Elon Musk [Getty Images]

Ives also weighed in on the possibility of a merger between Tesla and SpaceX.

"I put the probability of Tesla and SpaceX combining next year at around 80 percent," he said, adding that SpaceX would grow into one of the world's largest hyperscalers.

Barclays also said a merger announcement could come before Tesla's annual shareholder meeting.

Dan Levy, Barclays' Tesla analyst, said in a recent report that he expects the annual shareholder meeting to be held no later than Dec. 6.

Analysts said a merger would create financial synergies, but argued the real value would lie in the vertical integration of the two companies' AI technologies.

Barclays said a merger between the two companies "is increasingly becoming market consensus," warning that if an announcement is delayed until late October or early November, it would put pressure on the timeline for securing shareholder approval at the meeting.

Elon Musk has also signaled growing overlap between the two companies, saying on a recent Tesla earnings call that the company "overlaps with SpaceX in many ways."


yul@heraldcorp.com