TLDR
- Morgan Stanley analyst Shawn Kim called Samsung’s recent sell-off a buying opportunity, with the stock down around 20% week to date
- The KOSPI index fell 17% over the same period, meaning Samsung underperformed its broader market
- Morgan Stanley kept Samsung as its top pick, citing HBM4 qualification, SRAM capabilities, and foundry flexibility
- A report from Korea JoongAng Daily said mass production at Samsung’s $37 billion Texas chip plant has been pushed back to early 2027
- Seoul-listed Samsung stock dropped nearly 12% on Wednesday, extending a 10% loss from the previous session
Samsung Electronics has had a rough week. The stock dropped around 20% week to date, outpacing a 17% decline in the broader KOSPI index.
The latest pressure came from a Korea JoongAng Daily report published Tuesday. It said mass production at Samsung’s Taylor, Texas facility has been pushed back again — this time to early 2027.
The $37 billion plant was first announced in 2021. It has faced multiple timeline slips since then, despite landing major chip orders.
One of those orders is a reported $16.5 billion contract with Tesla. That deal has not insulated the project from repeated delays.
The report cited multiple sources familiar with the matter. Pilot operations have begun, but there is no clear start-of-production milestone in place.
Samsung pushed back on the framing. The company told the newspaper that “production” should mean completing preparations for mass manufacturing by end of 2026, with the plant ready to operate by then.
Earlier guidance had pointed to second-generation 2-nanometer chips, known as SF2P, entering mass production this year. That timeline now appears to have slipped.
Seoul-listed Samsung fell nearly 12% to 172,100 won by early Wednesday morning. The stock had already lost 10% the previous session.
Morgan Stanley Sees a Buy
Against this backdrop, Morgan Stanley analyst Shawn Kim put out a more optimistic take. He said the correction has created a buying opportunity.
“Historically, such corrections have offered a good opportunity to buy,” Kim wrote, adding that earnings expectations still have “a lot of room for recovery.”
The firm kept Samsung as its top pick. It also reiterated a positive view on SK hynix.
Morgan Stanley pointed to HBM4 qualification, SRAM capabilities, and foundry flexibility as reasons to stay constructive on the stock.
Kim also outlined a shift in AI memory architecture. He said the market is moving toward a hybrid model as chips become more specialised.
AI Memory Architecture Shift
While HBM remains dominant, Morgan Stanley said SRAM is gaining ground for workloads where latency matters more than throughput.
The firm expects Nvidia to unveil a new inference chip at its upcoming GPU Technology Conference. The chip would use a Language Processing Unit architecture built around large amounts of on-chip SRAM.
Morgan Stanley described the architecture as “purpose-built for the sequential speed of inference.” It said the chip appeals to customers willing to pay for speed.
Kim framed it as a complementary dynamic rather than a competition. The view is that SRAM handles hot-path execution while HBM manages scalable memory capacity.
The firm also noted LPU designs could bypass current supply chain bottlenecks in HBM and CoWoS packaging.
Samsung stock was trading at 172,100 won as of Wednesday morning, down nearly 12% on the session.
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