South Korean chipmakers rally on AI optimism in post-holiday trade

SEOUL, Oct 10 (Reuters) - South Korean chipmakers rallied on Friday as markets reopened following a period of local holiday, with gains fuelled by renewed optimism around artificial intelligence (AI).

Samsung Electronics 005930.KS rose as much as 5.96% to its highest since January 11, 2021 and SK Hynix 000660.KS jumped 11.1% to a record high.

Both firms clinched a deal with OpenAI earlier this month to support the ChatGPT maker's expansive Stargate AI data centre project.

Samsung's rally was further driven by optimism around AMD's AMD.O multi-year deal on Monday to supply chips to OpenAI, said Ryu Young-ho, a senior analyst at NH Investment & Securities.

AMD is one of Samsung's biggest customers for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, he added.

SK Hynix gained momentum from positive AI sentiment over the local holiday period from October 3-9, as investors continued to view the company as the leading supplier of HBM and a key beneficiary of surging AI-related demand, Ryu said.

Meanwhile, chip heavyweights powered the benchmark KOSPI stock index .KS11 to an all-time high in a post-holiday rally.