AI Bubble Fears Cause Sharp Drop in Korean Retail Investors' U.S. Stock Holdings... $1.6 Billion Bet on Google

In November, Korean Retail Investors' U.S. Stock Holdings Fell to 234 Trillion Won
First Decline in Eight Months After Peaking at a Record 250 Trillion Won
Despite AI Bubble Concerns, Tech Stock Bets Like Google Remain Strong

The total value of U.S. stocks held by Korean retail investors, which had been reaching record highs, has retreated just before surpassing the 300 trillion won mark for the first time. Although individual investors continued to chant 'Buy America' last month, the underperformance of technology stocks-amid concerns about an artificial intelligence (AI) bubble-acted as a drag.

According to the Securities Information Portal (SEIBro) of the Korea Securities Depository on December 2, the value of U.S. stocks held by domestic individual investors in November 2025 stood at approximately $159.6 billion (about 234 trillion won), a decrease of $10.4 billion (about 15 trillion won) compared to the previous month. This ended a seven-month streak, from March to October, during which the value of U.S. stocks held by Korean retail investors had increased to a record high of $170 billion (about 250 trillion won).

The decline in holdings is attributed to the weakness in the New York stock market, particularly the technology-focused Nasdaq index. The Nasdaq, which had risen for seven consecutive months since April, fell by 1.51% last month, ending its winning streak. This contrasts with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is centered on blue-chip stocks, and the S&P 500, which focuses on large-cap stocks-both of which ended the month slightly higher. As concerns over an AI bubble spread, downward pressure affected global stock markets, and the Nasdaq, which is heavily weighted with large technology stocks, was hit especially hard. As a result, the portfolios of Korean retail investors, which are heavily weighted toward technology stocks, also suffered significant losses.

Despite the correction in major technology stocks, Korean retail investors maintained their 'Buy America' stance. Last month, they purchased $5.9 billion (about 9 trillion won) worth of U.S. stocks, marking the fifth consecutive month of net buying since July. In October, they set a new record by making net purchases of $6.8 billion (about 10 trillion won).

The stock most heavily bought by Korean retail investors last month was Alphabet (Class A), with net purchases totaling about $1 billion (about 1.6 trillion won). Market attention focused on Google's AI chip, the Tensor Processing Unit (TPU), which has emerged as a challenger to Nvidia's Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) dominance. News that investment legend Warren Buffett had made large purchases of Alphabet shares also fueled investor sentiment. Alphabet's market capitalization, which has surged about 67% this year, has grown to $3.8 trillion (about 5,578 trillion won), putting it on the verge of surpassing the $4 trillion mark. The gap with Nvidia, the world's largest company by market capitalization at $4.3 trillion, is now about $500 billion.

The next most purchased stocks by Korean retail investors after Alphabet were the leveraged exchange-traded fund (ETF) SOXL, which offers triple exposure to the U.S. semiconductor sector ($747 million), and Nvidia ($712 million). Meta Platforms, which is reportedly considering multi-billion-dollar purchases of Google TPUs ($550 million), and IonQ, the world's first publicly listed quantum computing company ($320 million), followed. As of October, Korean investors held an 18% stake in IonQ, making them the largest investor group in the world by nationality.

In a report, Hana Institute of Finance noted, "The proportion of U.S. stocks in the overseas holdings of domestic individual investors has reached 93.7%, indicating a deepening concentration on the U.S. market. The perception that large U.S. technology stocks symbolize growth is spreading, and investment culture centered on the U.S. is being absorbed through global platforms."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.