[R&E] KOSPI Enters the 6,000-Point Visibility Range, Tech Rally Driven by Recovered AI Confidence and Earning Surprises

Market Overview: Key Indicators and Trends

The New York stock market demonstrated a strong upward trend centered on tech stocks as concerns over the encroachment of the existing ecosystem by AI software eased. With the expansion of partnerships by major AI companies such as Anthropic resolving market uncertainty, news that AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) signed a large-scale chip supply contract with Meta stimulated investor sentiment across the semiconductor sector. Consequently, the S&P 500 and NASDAQ closed up by 0.77% and 1.04%, respectively, showing a solid performance.

The domestic stock market on the previous day also soared, fully reflecting this global tailwind. The KOSPI surged by 2.11% compared to the previous trading day, recording 5,969.64 and placing the 6,000-point milestone right before its eyes, while the KOSDAQ also closed up by 1.13% at 1,165.00. An influx of bargain hunting into large-cap IT stocks such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, along with earning surprises from major component companies, acted as the key drivers lifting the indices.

Today's market may experience a breather following the previous day's surge, but upward pressure is expected to prevail as the robustness of AI hardware demand and signs of a performance rebound in the secondary battery sector have been confirmed. In particular, the fact that the dollar-won exchange rate showed a downward stabilization at 1,440.7 won is a positive factor in terms of foreign supply and demand.

Key Industry Issues and Insights

In the semiconductor and IT component sectors, qualitative growth is evident due to the expanding proportion of high value-added products. TLB recorded an operating profit of 8.6 billion won in the fourth quarter of 2025, exceeding market expectations by 7.6%. This is the result of the proportion of high value-added products based on the BVH method rising to 62%. In particular, the speed of profitability improvement is expected to steepen further as mass production of SoCAMM goes into full swing starting in the second quarter of 2026 and the expansion effect of the Ansan Plant 2 is reflected. Simmtech also succeeded in turning a profit as its high value-added MCP revenue based on the MSAP process surged by 56% year-on-year, with the addition of next-generation module revenue encompassing memory modules and GDDR7 becoming visible.

The secondary battery sector has passed through the worst tunnel and laid the foundation for a rebound. L&F achieved an operating profit of 82.5 billion won in the fourth quarter, recording an earning surprise that overwhelmingly exceeded the market expectation of 18.7 billion won. The reversal of inventory valuation losses (77.9 billion won) due to the stabilization of lithium prices led the performance improvement, and the possibility of direct supply to Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) and the commercial operation of LFP cathode materials are analyzed to become additional growth drivers in the future. It is also encouraging that new electric vehicle registrations in the European market in January increased by 24% year-on-year, sending a signal of demand recovery.

The rapid progress in the aerospace and mobility fields is also noteworthy. Intellian Technologies successfully turned a profit with an operating profit of 19.8 billion won as the revenue proportion of its low Earth orbit satellite division expanded to 61%. This is the result of preemptively targeting the paradigm shift in the satellite communications market. KG Mobility is also presenting a challenging goal of surpassing 5 trillion won in revenue in 2026 and materializing a mid- to long-term roadmap towards achieving 7.3 trillion won in revenue by 2030.

Market Signals

• L&F Performance Reversal: It recorded an operating profit of 82.5 billion won in the fourth quarter, significantly exceeding market expectations. Along with the inventory reversal effect, the operation of the next-generation cathode material line is expected to drive the normalization of profitability.

• European EV Demand Recovery: The number of registered electric vehicles in the European Union in January surged by 24% year-on-year to 154,230 units. The steep growth trends in France (+52%) and Italy (+41%) are expected to lead to a recovery in the utilization rates of domestic battery cell and material companies.

• Lithium Price Bottom Confirmation: Chinese lithium carbonate futures surged by 7.5%, securing downward rigidity in raw material prices. This is expected to contribute to the recovery of price-passing power and profitability defense across the entire secondary battery value chain.

Epoch View: Investment Implications

The current market has cleared the fog of macroeconomic uncertainty and entered a phase of focusing on companies' fundamental ability to generate profit. In particular, it is worth noting that the center of gravity in the AI industry has moved beyond mere expectations and is being proven by actual hardware orders and performance figures. The speed at which semiconductor component stocks are transitioning to high value-added products is faster than expected, which soon serves as the basis for the revaluation of the entire domestic IT sector.

The secondary battery sector also clearly shows a trend of consolidating its bottom based on the two pillars of a rebound in lithium prices and demand recovery originating from Europe. Rather than simply reacting emotionally to index fluctuations, a valid strategy is to select component companies that have secured technical entry barriers and material companies expected to benefit from the supply chain reorganization. The opening of the 6,000-point KOSPI era is ultimately impossible without the backing of performance, and the currently confirmed earning surprises of major companies suggest that the market's fundamental improvement is proceeding successfully.

This content was generated through News Epoch's proprietary AI algorithm, which tracks and analyzes public data from the research centers of major domestic securities firms in real time.
It is an objective summary based on collected data and does not constitute an investment recommendation or solicitation for any specific stock.