WhiteDwarf

 Now, lastly, we have Hyundai Rotem. Hyundai Rotem operates in a slightly different territory compared to LIG D&A, KAI, and Korean Air, which I introduced in previous posts. While those three specialize in aerial warfare like missiles and fighter jets, Hyundai Rotem's main focus is the tank—the prince of land warfare. Their flagship lineup includes the K-2 Black Panther main battle tank, wheeled armored vehicles, obstacle-clearing tanks, K1/K1A1 tanks, and armored recovery/bridge vehicles. As you might have guessed, tanks have historically garnered more spotlight in the Russia-Ukraine war than in Middle Eastern conflicts. This means their main customers have been European nations. Recently, however, that pattern has been changing a bit. It appears they are set to diversify their export destinations beyond Europe and into the Middle East. Earlier, I explained that Middle Eastern warfare primarily revolves around fighter jets and airstrikes. But there is one blind spot to this: y...

If Hanwha Aerospace skyrocketed due to the Russia-Ukraine war, LIG Defense & Aerospace (formerly LIG Nex1) is a company that grabbed attention due to the U.S.-Iran war. Their main customers differ as well; while Hanwha Aerospace focuses on European countries bordering Russia, LIG D&A targets Middle Eastern countries adjacent to Iran. The reason is simple. The weapons manufactured by the two companies are entirely different. As mentioned in my previous post, LIG D&A hit the jackpot with 'Cheongung-2' (M-SAM). Iran fired an immense number of missiles at the UAE, and Cheongung-2 intercepted almost all of them. According to UAE Ministry of Defense data, the UAE air defense batteries equipped with Cheongung-2 hit 486 out of 507 Iranian ballistic missiles (95.9%), 24 out of 24 cruise missiles (100%), and 2,101 out of 2,191 drones (95.9%). Securities analysts even worry about whether LIG D&A's supply of Cheongung-2 can keep up with the demand, as requests from Midd...

Hanwha Aerospace is my absolute favorite company and the definition of romance itself. I should have bought it when the stock price was around 700,000 to 800,000 KRW per share. Now that it has surged well over 1,000,000 KRW, I can't even dare to buy it. It breaks my heart... First of all, Hanwha Aerospace is virtually the only company in South Korea that covers the Army, Navy, and Air Force all together. For ground firepower weapons, their flagship products include missiles, self-propelled howitzers, tanks, and rockets. Its subsidiary, Hanwha Systems, and Satrec Initiative are even developing and manufacturing reconnaissance satellites and radars, establishing a complete surveillance system. Another subsidiary, Hanwha Ocean, builds naval ships. They have even expanded into the space market now. It was Hanwha Aerospace that oversaw the production and launch of the recently launched Nuri rocket. Preparing Against Europe and the Russian Invasion Hanwha Aerospace's stock price bega...

Since I am a journalist in charge of the stock market, I must look into the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets every day. I have to deliver the news to you, the readers, about which stocks rose or fell every time the market opens at 9:00 AM and closes at 3:30 PM. However, there have been some very interesting stocks lately. These are sectors that fall alone when everyone else is rising, and rise alone when everyone else is falling. These are the defense industries—companies that sell weapons. The reason is simple: war.  Normally, when a war breaks out, the stock market tends to crash. People try to avoid the uncertainty caused by war and gather safe assets like the US dollar and gold. In other words, since they don't know what will happen next, they move their money into assets with less volatility. In that process, funds invested in risky assets like stocks pour out like an ebbing tide, and stock prices drop. This US-Iran war took place on February 27–28, Korea time. The KOSPI, which had be...

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix perform rigorous inspections after semiconductor production to ensure quality, as defective units cannot be delivered to Nvidia or other clients. This process is categorized as back-end processing, specifically the final test after packaging. Since it prevents wasting all the previous efforts, it is arguably the most critical stage. Essential components for semiconductor testing include pogo pins and test sockets. Semiconductors are placed into sockets connected to testing equipment to diagnose any anomalies. A socket contains numerous pogo pins, which transmit electrical signals between the chip and the socket to verify functionality. These pins are consumables that must be replaced after repeated use. As AI demand drives higher semiconductor production, sales for these parts naturally increase. Furthermore, high-performance chips require intensive verification during development, increasing the frequency and difficulty of testing. These chips demand a...

Let’s review what we covered last time. HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) made by Samsung Electronics and SK hynix goes into Nvidia’s AI GPUs. Nvidia’s AI GPUs are needed in hyperscalers’ data centers. As hyperscalers increase their investment in AI, demand for HBM from Samsung Electronics and SK hynix rises, and both companies’ earnings grow. In other words, the memory semiconductor supercycle follows the structure of “Samsung Electronics · SK hynix → Nvidia → hyperscalers.” But beneath Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, there are numerous other companies connected. These are the so-called “materials, parts, and equipment” companies, or “MPE (SoBuJang in Korean).” They supply the materials, parts, and equipment needed to produce HBM. Let’s look at an example. As mentioned before, HBM is made by stacking multiple DRAM chips. Obviously, you can’t just stack DRAM like Lego blocks and call it HBM. You need to press them together using equipment called a “bonder” (Bonder comes from the word “bon...