Power Surge: Stocks Soar as Nvidia Fuels AI Future

In a significant boost for power equipment manufacturers, stocks climbed Tuesday morning following Nvidia Corp.'s announcement of a substantial investment in developing data centers, according to Pulse, the English service of Maeil Business Newspaper Korea. HD Hyundai Electric Co. shares surged, trading at 618,000 won, marking a rise of 5.64% from the previous session.

This uptick reached a peak of 624,000 won, a 6.67% gain, hitting a fresh 52-week high. Meanwhile, LS Electric Co. shares jumped by 3.07%, and Hyosung Heavy Industries Corp. rose by 2.56%. The rise came on the heels of Nvidia's decision to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI for constructing AI infrastructure on a large scale.

The ambitious plan involves building a 10-gigawatt data center powered by Nvidia's advanced AI chips, equipped to train and deploy OpenAI's models. This monumental capacity is akin to 10 nuclear power plants. Further boosting HD Hyundai Electric's stock was the announcement of a 277.8 billion won contract in the U.S. for providing 24 units of ultra-high-voltage equipment.

Moreover, Samsung Electronics Co. made headlines by exceeding 85,000 won in early trade, reaching a peak of 85,900 won, a new 52-week high. By 9:41 a.m., it climbed 0.96% to 84,300 won, pushing its market capitalization past 500 trillion won for the first time since last July. During pre-market trading on Nextrade, shares momentarily touched 91,000 won.

Market analysts have since adjusted their target prices for Samsung to over 100,000 won. HD Hyundai Electric shares eventually closed at 594,000 won, a 1.54% increase from the previous session. LS Electric finished at 293,000 won, while Hyosung Heavy Industries ended at 1,397,000 won. Samsung Electronics saw a 1.44% rise, closing at 84,700 won.

(With inputs from agencies.)