"The 'Bottleneck' Will Determine the 2027 Leading Stocks"... What Comes After Semiconductors?

Expert analyses have been released to predict the direction of the Korean stock market and the next leading stocks. In a three-way discussion video released by the economic specialty channel 'The Man Who Explains the Economy (Kim Kwang-seok TV)', experts Lee Hyeong-su, Jang Woo-jin, and Kim Kwang-seok pointed out the characteristics of the current Korean market and key variables by industry targeting 2027.

"If Samsung Electronics is trapped in a box range, the KOSPI is also trapped"... Differences in the definition of leading stocks

The discussion began with whether "leading stocks" that drive the current Korean stock market exist. One expert diagnosed that there are no clear leading stocks in the current market. The analysis suggested that while the materials, parts, and equipment sector has risen, it is ambiguous to view it as a leading sector because the sector size is small and the contraction of liquidity continues. In particular, the view was presented that the situation where Samsung Electronics is trapped in a box range is causing stagnation in the entire KOSPI index.

On the other hand, opinions diverged regarding the definition of leading stocks. One view held that there are no leading stocks because it is not a market trend that strongly pulls the market up, while another view countered that leading stocks do exist but have lost their strength, as Samsung Electronics accounts for a significant portion of earnings and serves as the central axis of the market. In fact, while semiconductor export growth rates are recording overwhelmingly high figures compared to other industry groups and are leading the real economy, a gap is appearing where stock prices remain within a box range.

Focus on items causing 'bottlenecks', the core of AI infrastructure

The key keyword for the industrial outlook looking toward 2027 was summarized as 'Bottleneck'. The analysis suggests that items whose supply cannot keep up with demand as AI infrastructure expands, thereby increasing pricing power, are highly likely to become the next leading stocks. Experts focused on items where lead times (the time from order to delivery) are extremely increasing.

Specifically, DRAM, Hard Disk Drives (HDD), and FCBGA or ABF substrates used in processor packaging were cited as major items with increasing lead times. Additionally, MLCC (Multi-Layer Ceramic Capacitors), enterprise SSDs, and CPUs were mentioned as fields with a high possibility of price increases as supply and demand become tight. The perspective is that if the protagonist of the past AI revolution was NVIDIA's GPU, the next trend will be items that experience these bottleneck phenomena and possess high price pass-through capabilities.

Physical AI and power infrastructure... The emergence of a new industrial cycle

Outside the semiconductor realm, 'Physical AI' and power infrastructure emerged as new axes. The speed of mass production of robot technology, such as Tesla's Optimus, was identified as a key variable that will determine the market's reaction. It was forecasted that once robots and autonomous driving become full-scale, demand related to low-latency communication technology that connects data centers and base stations will also change.

The power supply issue is also an important variable. Given that even if AI infrastructure expands, it is useless if power is not supported, an analysis emerged that on-site power, namely on-site power supply systems, may be highlighted rather than long-term nuclear power. In this process, the possibility was raised that companies related to fuel cells or solar power might receive attention again. The observation point is how the leading stock cycle, which followed the past ESG craze, metaverse, electric vehicles, and batteries, and led to GPUs in 2025 and memory in 2026, will transfer to which industries in the future.

Source: original video (YouTube)