South Korea's Democratic Party has proposed amending a law to allow SK Hynix—currently a unit of SK Square under SK...

South Korea's Democratic Party has proposed amending a law to allow SK Hynix—currently a unit of SK Square under SK Inc—to attract outside capital for new fabs while retaining at least 50% stake in joint ventures (source: Economic Times). This change directly addresses the financing needs for SK Hynix's planned 400 trillion won ($268 billion) chip expansion in southwestern South Korea. The easing comes as SK Hynix's stock plunges amid a broader AI-led selloff—its ADRs fell 9% on Nasdaq debut and Seoul shares dropped 15% in a single day (sources: Digitimes, Bloomberg, Semafor). Despite near-term volatility, the regulatory tailwind strengthens SK Hynix's ability to fund HBM capacity for Nvidia and other AI customers. The KOSPI has entered bear market, but forward P/E for SK Hynix has declined as earnings rose, suggesting underlying fundamentals remain solid (source: Economic Times). The proposed amendment requires new ventures to be located outside greater Seoul, supporting regional development goals.

What the sources said

• Economic Times: "The law primarily affects SK Hynix... If passed, chipmaker SK Hynix will be able to attract outside capital for its new fabs if it retains a stake of at least 50% in such a joint venture."
• Semafor: "SK Hynix sank 15% in Seoul — a record drop that helped trigger a market-wide trading halt."
• Economic Times: "Despite the correction, earnings expectations for Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have risen so rapidly that their forward price-to-earnings ratios have declined even as their share prices more than doubled this year."