South Korea has leapfrogged the U.K. to become the world¡¯s eighth-biggest stock market, fueled by a high-octane rally in its artificial intelligence-linked technology champions.
The total market capitalization of Korean-listed companies has surged more than 45% this year to $4.04 trillion, while the U.K.¡¯s has climbed about 3% to $3.99 trillion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The size of the U.K. market was about double that of South Korea¡¯s as recently as the end of 2024.
The surge in Korean stocks underscores the global pivot toward companies linked to artificial intelligence, which has driven gains in the Asian nation¡¯s two biggest listed companies: Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. The two memory-chip behemoths now account for more than 40% of the total market cap of the benchmark Kospi index, which has more than 800 constituents. A further tailwind has been provided by President Lee Jae Myung¡¯s push to bolster equity prices via corporate governance reforms and pro-market policies.
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