Global investors dump $13 billion in South Korean stocks but keep buying chipmakers

South Korea’s stock market just had the kind of month that makes portfolio managers reconsider their life choices. Foreign investors yanked approximately 18.5 trillion won, roughly $13 billion, out of Korean equities in July 2026 alone. But buried inside that wave of selling was a curious exception: global funds kept nibbling at chipmakers. The KOSPI carnage in numbers South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI index dropped approximately 33% from its June peak through late July, with about $2 trillion in market value vanishing in weeks. At one point, the index suffered a two-day loss of 16% in late July, severe enough to trigger circuit breakers. Cumulative foreign net selling in the first half of 2026 reached approximately 116.36 trillion won, or about $81 billion. July’s $13 billion outflow was just the latest chapter in what had become a sustained exodus from Korean equities, with foreign investors having been net sellers for six consecutive months prior to the July downturn. Why chipmakers still get the love Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix together account for over half of KOSPI’s total market value. Both stocks were central to the AI-driven rally that inflated Korean equities in the firs...