South Korea’s equity market staged a sharp recovery on Friday, driven by reports of a strategic partnership between artificial intelligence startup Anthropic and chipmaker Samsung Electronics.
The news provided a counterweight to a week defined by extreme volatility and heavy selling in the technology sector, which had previously dragged the benchmark Kospi index down nearly 10% earlier in the week.
The Kospi index closed higher, reversing much of the losses incurred during Tuesday’s crash, which had triggered a 20-minute trading halt.
The abrupt downturn earlier in the week had snapped a prolonged rally fueled by surging demand for semiconductors, prompting market observers to question whether the sector’s momentum had peaked.
The reported deal with Anthropic, a leading developer of large language models, signaled continued institutional demand for advanced AI infrastructure, helping to restore investor confidence in Korean tech names.
Samsung Electronics, a cornerstone of the Kospi, saw its shares rise on the back of the partnership rumors.