The End of Blind Nvidia Buying: Korean 'Seohak Ants' Pivot to US Memory Giants

Summary

• Korean retail investors, known as "Seohak Ants," are reducing their exposure to the "Magnificent 7" (M7) in favor of memory semiconductor stocks.
• In early 2026, these investors net sold approximately 870 billion KRW (~$627 million) worth of Nvidia and turned toward Micron and Western Digital (SanDisk).
• This tactical shift suggests a move from GPU-centric bets to the memory bottleneck phase of the AI cycle, mirroring the domestic dominance of Samsung and SK Hynix.

What Happened

According to the Korea Securities Depository, the legendary devotion of Korean retail investors to the "Magnificent 7" is cooling. While overall Korean investment in US stocks surged from $6.4 billion to $8.9 billion (~12.9 trillion KRW) recently, net purchases of M7 stocks actually dropped by over 10% compared to last year. Most notably, investors sold off Nvidia (NVDA) worth $627.29 million and Meta (META) worth $302.38 million.

Instead of the usual big-tech giants, the capital is flowing into memory-related firms. Micron Technology (MU) and Western Digital/SanDisk (WDC) saw massive inflows of $466.92 million and $555.87 million, respectively. This "rotational trade" indicates that investors believe the next leg of the AI boom will be driven by memory capacity rather than just processing power.

Korea Market Context

In the Korean market, the term "Seohak Ants" (West-bound Ants) refers to retail investors who aggressively trade international stocks, primarily in the US. They are a powerful market force, often moving billions of dollars. Traditionally, these investors have been obsessed with Tesla (TSLA) and Nvidia (NVDA). However, their recent behavior shows a "copy-paste" strategy of their domestic preferences. Since the KOSPI is heavily weighted toward memory leaders Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) and SK Hynix (000660.KS), Korean investors are applying their deep local knowledge of the memory cycle to the US market, betting that US-listed memory players will follow the same upward trajectory.

Investment Implications

This shift has significant implications for both the US and Korean markets:

• KOSPI Correlation: The pivot to US memory stocks like Micron often signals high confidence in the global semiconductor cycle. This sentiment usually provides a tailwind for Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, as these stocks tend to trade in a highly correlated "memory cluster."
• AI Maturity: The selling of Nvidia and Meta suggests that retail sentiment is maturing. Investors are moving away from "buy everything AI" to identifying specific bottlenecks, such as High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) and enterprise storage.
• Portfolio Rebalancing: The drop in Tesla and Apple net buys indicates a move toward value and industrial logic over pure brand loyalty. For global analysts, watching "Seohak Ant" flows serves as a high-beta indicator of where retail liquidity is headed next.

Stocks Mentioned

• Samsung Electronics (005930.KS)
• SK Hynix (000660.KS)
• Nvidia (NVDA)
• Micron Technology (MU)
• Western Digital/SanDisk (WDC)
• Meta Platforms (META)
• Tesla (TSLA)
• Apple (AAPL)