Stocks
Korea's Semiconductor Landscape: Beyond Samsung and SK Hynix — A Supply Chain Overview 韓国の半導体は2社だけではない — サプライチェーンの見取り図
When looking at Korean stocks from Japan, many people's focus stops at Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. These two companies hold an extremely large share of the market capitalization of the Korean market, and the movement of the KOSPI index can be explained to a considerable extent by these two companies, making it a natural entry point in itself.
However, Korea's semiconductor industry is not completed by these two companies alone. Centered around these two giants, a layered structure of companies involved in equipment, materials, components, and back-end processes exists. If you apply the same perspective used for Japanese semiconductor-related stocks, understanding this layered structure will improve your resolution.
Broadly divided, there are four layers.
The first is front-end manufacturing equipment. This group supplies equipment for processes like lithography, deposition, and etching, and includes companies that hold a significant presence in areas closely tied to domestic Korean demand while competing with major Japanese, European, and American firms.
The second is materials. This includes wafers, photoresists, various gases, and chemicals. This sector has been known as an area where Japanese companies have a high market share. It is also an area where Korean efforts towards localization have advanced since the export control movements in 2019. For Japanese investors, this is a sector with both competition and complementarity with Japanese companies.
The third is the back-end process. This is the area responsible for packaging and testing, and its importance has been increasing in recent years due to the growing demand for advanced memories like HBM. This is because the added value of memory is no longer solely determined by the front-end process.
The fourth is inspection, measurement, and components. Though less flashy, these sectors react sensitively to the capital expenditure cycle.
As a practical note, many of these mid-to-small-cap stocks are listed on KOSDAQ, and combined with the daily price fluctuation limit of plus or minus 30 percent, their price movements become extremely volatile. If you look at mid-to-small-cap related stocks with the same mindset as Samsung Electronics, you will encounter volatility beyond expectations.
Furthermore, as they are influenced by the capital expenditure cycle, they tend to react more to announcements of capital investment plans than to memory prices themselves. This means there are times when following the disclosure of investment plans rather than earnings reports offers a more explanatory perspective.日本から韓国株を見るとき、多くの人がサムスン電子とSKハイニックスで視野が止まります。この2社が韓国市場の時価総額に占める比率は極めて大きく、KOSPI指数の動きもかなりの部分がこの2社で説明できてしまうため、それ自体は自然な入り方です。
ただし韓国の半導体産業はこの2社だけで完結していません。両社を頂点に、装置、素材、部品、後工程を担う企業群が層をなしています。日本の半導体関連銘柄の見方をそのまま持ち込むなら、この層構造を知っておくと解像度が上がります。
大きく分けると四つの層があります。
一つ目は前工程の製造装置です。露光や成膜、エッチングといった工程の装置を供給する企業群で、日本や欧米の大手と競合しつつ、韓国内の需要に密着した領域で存在感を持つ会社があります。
二つ目は素材です。ウェハー、フォトレジスト、各種ガスや薬液などで、この分野は日本企業のシェアが高い領域として知られてきました。2019年の輸出管理をめぐる動き以降、韓国側で国産化の取り組みが進んだ分野でもあります。日本の投資家にとっては、日本企業との競合と補完の両面がある領域です。
三つ目は後工程です。パッケージングやテストを担う領域で、近年はHBMのような先端メモリの需要拡大に伴って重要度が上がっています。メモリの付加価値が前工程だけで決まらなくなったためです。
四つ目は検査・計測と部品です。地味ですが設備投資サイクルに敏感に反応します。
実務的な注意点を挙げると、これらの中小型銘柄はKOSDAQ上場が多く、値幅制限が上下30パーセントであることと相まって値動きが非常に激しくなります。サムスン電子の感覚で中小型の関連銘柄を見ると、想定を超えるボラティリティに遭遇します。
また設備投資サイクルの影響を受けるため、メモリ価格そのものより設備投資計画の発表に反応する傾向があります。決算より投資計画の公示を追うほうが説明力が高い局面があるということです。
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