Nvidia beats Tesla to emerge as top foreign stock held by Koreans

Nvidia Corp., the global top artificial intelligence chip leader, overtook Tesla Inc., the world’s second-largest electric vehicle maker, to become the foreign company in which South Koreans have the most holdings in value terms as the semiconductor giant’s stocks hit record highs.

South Korean investors’ Nvidia stockholdings totaled $11.1 billion as of May 28, higher than $10.7 billion in those of Tesla, according to Korea Securities Depository (KSD) data.

That came even as local investors only bought a net $516 million in Nvidia shares so far this year, less than half of the $1.2 billion in Tesla stocks.

Nvidia stock prices hit an all-time high of $1,154.92 on Wednesday, having more than doubled this year on the surging demand for AI chips among Big Tech companies, which rushed to develop generative AI.

Nvidia became the world’s third most valuable company with a market capitalization of $2.8 trillion, following Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc.

DIFFERENT FORTUNES

The chipmaker’s shares, which have been supported by stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings and a stock split, rallied further after reports that Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk said his AI company would be building a supercomputer.

Tesla’s stocks have shed about 30% so far this year as the struggling global EV industry soured investor sentiment.

Tesla had been the largest foreign stock held by South Koreans since July 2020 when it beat Amazon.com Inc. as local investors expected the US EV maker to lead future growth after smartphone makers.

The holdings of Tesla among South Koreans have been more than double those of Apple, the No. 2 pick of domestic investors, since their US stock purchases soared in 2021.

Write to Eunhyeok Ryu at ehryu@hankyung.com
 
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.