The 2 Signals That Will Determine EWY's Next 12 Months: AI Memory Demand and Samsung Concentration

The 2 Signals That Will Determine EWY's Next 12 Months: AI Memory Demand and Samsung Concentration focuses on iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (EWY) and two key variables expected to drive the fund over the next year. The article says EWY tracked the MSCI Korea 25/50 Index and charges 0.59%, but recently fell to near $192, down roughly 12% in a week, after previously gaining strongly year-to-date. It highlights that Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix together represent about 44.5% of the portfolio, making EWY highly sensitive to global memory pricing. For the macro signal, it points to AI-related memory demand, especially high-bandwidth memory (HBM) pricing and order flow, citing an example on June 5 when EWY tumbled 7.7% after Broadcom guidance underperformed expectations. The fund-specific signal is the combined two-stock concentration, warning that if it rises above 50%, EWY could behave like a single-factor memory bet.