Seoul, Feb 14, 2026, 20:54 KST — Market closed
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. shares ended Friday up 1.46% at 181,200 won on the Korea Exchange, keeping a sharp two-session gain of about 8% after the stock touched 184,400 won at the week’s peak. (Investing.com)
The move matters because South Korea’s stock market now goes dark for the Lunar New Year break, freezing positioning after a fast run in heavyweight chip names. The KOSPI slipped 0.28% on Friday as some investors locked in gains, with Kiwoom Securities researcher Han Ji-young citing “profit” taking ahead of the “extended market holiday.” (en.yna.co.kr)
At the center is high-bandwidth memory, or HBM — stacked DRAM used alongside AI accelerators to move data faster and cut bottlenecks. Traders have treated any sign of supply progress as a read-through on pricing power and market share in the AI buildout.
Samsung said on Thursday it has begun mass production of its HBM4 and shipped commercial products, and it expects HBM sales to more than triple in 2026 versus 2025. It also flagged plans to begin sampling HBM4E in the second half of 2026, with custom HBM samples expected to reach customers in 2027 depending on specifications. (Samsung Global Newsroom)
Samsung is trying to narrow the gap with rivals in supplying memory for AI computing, Reuters reported, after earlier stumbles in advanced HBM supply. The company has touted HBM4 speeds of 11.7 gigabits per second, with a peak of 13 Gbps, and chip division CTO Song Jai-hyuk said customer feedback had been “very satisfactory,” according to the report. Samsung shares jumped 6.4% on Thursday, while SK Hynix gained 3.3%. (Reuters)
The rally also tracked a broader surge across memory names after Japan’s Kioxia issued an upbeat outlook, lifting sentiment around NAND and DRAM pricing assumptions. “I’m structurally still very positive on the NAND market,” said Joseph Wrenn, Asia tech specialist at Mizuho, in comments carried by Investing.com, while Micron CFO Mark Murphy said, “We’ve commenced customer shipments of HBM4.” (Investing.com)
For Samsung investors, the next question is whether the HBM news turns into visible order momentum — and whether the stock can hold its new level once trading reopens and hedges go back on. Watch also for any fresh detail on qualification timelines and customer ramps, the kind of datapoints that can swing near-term positioning quickly in a crowded chip trade.
Beyond semiconductors, Samsung is also pushing its mobile story ahead of a late-February product event. The company said it is teasing Galaxy Unpacked ahead of Feb. 25, when it plans to stream the launch online from San Francisco. (Samsung Global Newsroom)
But the risk is simple: after a steep two-day jump into a long closure, the bar rises. Any stumble — slower-than-expected volume shipments, soft pricing signals, or a shift in risk appetite while Korea is shut — can turn a momentum trade into a quick unwind.
The Korea market will be closed Feb. 16-18 for Seollal and will reopen on Feb. 19, leaving the first post-holiday session as the immediate test for Samsung’s rally, before attention shifts to the Feb. 25 Galaxy event for the next near-term catalyst. (bok.or.kr)
