Biotech Falls, Semiconductor Materials and Equipment Surge... Major Shake-Up in KOSDAQ Market Cap Rankings

Beneficiaries of AI Infrastructure Investment
Equipment Stocks Reshuffle KOSDAQ Leaders
Global WFE Market at the Onset of a 'Supercycle'

This year, the Kosdaq market has seen a stark divergence in performance across different sectors, leading to significant changes in the rankings of top market capitalization stocks. While the biotech stocks that led the market last year have faltered, semiconductor materials, components, and equipment (so-called 'SoBuJang') companies—direct beneficiaries of the expansion in artificial intelligence (AI) investment—have made remarkable advances.

According to the Korea Exchange on June 12, Jusung Engineering surged from 63rd place in market capitalization at the end of last year to 5th place as of the previous day's closing price. Jusung Engineering is regarded as a representative SoBuJang company benefiting directly from increased AI-driven DRAM investment. IBK Investment & Securities forecasts that Jusung Engineering will achieve sales of 358 billion won this year, up 15% from the previous year, with operating profit projected to rise by 90% year-on-year to 59.5 billion won.

Other traditional leaders in the semiconductor SoBuJang sector also performed strongly. Leeno Industrial, which ranked 11th last year, climbed to 7th place, and Wonik IPS leaped from 21st to 8th. EO Technics also entered the top 10, rising from 20th last year to 10th place.

In contrast, the bio-pharmaceutical sector has generally lost ground. HLB fell from 6th place last year to 9th this year. ABL Bio, Legochem Biosciences, Peptron, and Samchundang Pharm all dropped out of the top 10. The title of Kosdaq's 'flagship stock' remains firmly with Alteogen, while second place Ecopro BM and third place Ecopro—both secondary battery companies—maintained their positions from the end of last year, keeping their spots at the top.

The rally among domestic semiconductor SoBuJang companies is attributed to aggressive facility expansions by global memory manufacturers, coupled with bullish forecasts for an unprecedented 'supercycle' in the wafer fabrication equipment (WFE) market. According to the U.S. economic media outlet MarketWatch, global investment bank UBS analyzed that the top three memory makers—Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, and Micron—along with global foundry firms, are ramping up new fabs and securing large numbers of cleanrooms, leading to explosive growth in WFE shipments, including lithography, deposition, etching, and cleaning equipment.

UBS projects that global WFE sales will grow 27% year-on-year to $147 billion in 2026 and are expected to increase by a further 35% to $200 billion in 2027. It diagnoses that the market is entering the initial phase of a massive, long-term supercycle, with sales likely to reach $250 billion by 2028.

Notably, the industry is paying close attention to the unusual development in which semiconductor manufacturing customers have begun sharing as much as 'eight quarters (two years)' worth of demand visibility with equipment suppliers. This suggests that long-term supply contracts—particularly centered on DRAM—are being concentrated as manufacturers seek to maximize fab utilization rates.

Dongjoo Lee, a researcher at SK Securities, stated, "In previous semiconductor investment cycles, the WFE growth phase was short and intense, but this cycle is characterized by a longer and increasingly strong momentum. With agentic AI, physical AI, and other drivers, memory demand is so robust that the semiconductor expansion cycle is expected to continue through 2030."

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