South Korean investors pour millions into MiniMax, other Chinese AI and chip stocks

South Korean retail investors, known for their aggressive trading style, are ramping up exposure to Chinese artificial intelligence-related stocks, even as their home market ranks among the world’s top performers.Data from SEIBro, a portal operated by the Korea Securities Depository, showed that South Korean retail investors bought US$507 million worth of Hong Kong-listed shares and US$154 million of mainland-listed shares between January 2 and Monday.The data showed that total purchases had already matched the combined levels seen in January and February 2025, when the launch of Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek’s R1 model sparked a global rally in China’s technology sector.This year’s buying has been heavily concentrated in AI and semiconductor names.In Hong Kong, the most actively bought stock on a net basis was start-up MiniMax AI, which attracted US$21 million from Korean retail investors since it debuted in January. Montage Technology, a Shanghai-based semiconductor company that debuted in February, followed with US$19 million in net purchases.On mainland exchanges, semiconductor equipment maker Naura Technology was the top pick, drawing US$3.5 million in net buying.“I’m betting shares in this Chinese version of OpenAI will skyrocket,” said Roy Lee, a South Korean retail investor who recently bought MiniMax and holds more than 20 technology stocks globally.