DB HiTek raised China prices 30% and beat; the market still cut it 22% on CoreWeave's credit shock
The Korean foundry confirmed price rises of up to 30% on Chinese demand and beat on operating profit. The market sold it 22% in a week as an AI-credit casualty, while Beijing funded a Guangzhou rival that need not profit.
Vincent Jiang · 2 min read
A wafer with no frontier AI in it is being traded like an AI credit trade, and the mismatch is now worth 22% of the company's price in a single week. DB HiTek−5.72% — DB HiTek, down 5.72 percent today, the South Korean foundry that makes 8-inch and 12-inch analog, power-management and display-driver wafers, confirmed it is raising foundry prices by up to 30% because Chinese customers want its capacity 19. The tape answered by cutting the stock 22.19% in the week of October 12 to 16 4, then selling it again on October 19 when CoreWeave's+6.45% — CoreWeave, up 6.45 percent today credit shock hit Nasdaq and dragged the whole Korean semiconductor complex lower 7.
The fundamentals and the tape disagree
The August 5 preliminary results were a beat: revenue of KRW 414.5 billion, up 22.8% year on year, operating profit of KRW 105.2 billion against a KRW 87.2 billion consensus, net income KRW 115.6 billion 2. On September 8 KB Securities raised its target to KRW 200,000, citing Chinese AI data-center and robotics demand, higher pricing and fuller utilization 2. By October 6 the stock sat 39.4% below its 52-week high of KRW 230,500 2. The stock is priced as an AI-credit casualty. Its AI exposure is Chinese fabless houses paying Korean prices for analog and power wafers. Those are different risks, and the market has not yet priced the difference.
Beijing just funded the substitute
CanSemi Technology, a Guangzhou 12-inch foundry whose prospectus describes a model like DB HiTek's, listed on Shenzhen's ChiNext on October 14 and raised about 6.16 billion yuan ($919 million) to expand 180 to 55nm capacity from 80,000 to 120,000 wafers a month 3. It has lost a cumulative 6.52 billion yuan over three years and says profit is unlikely before 2029 3. A competitor that need not profit is the one kind of rival a price rise cannot scare off.
DB HiTek fell 22% in a week, in line with the memory complex
Data
| Value | |
|---|---|
| SK hynix | -24.33% |
| DB HiTek | -22.19% |
| Samsung Electronics | -17.75% |
| KOSPI index | -14.46% |
The window, not the verdict
If Chinese designers keep qualifying parts on Korean capacity, the 30% rise rolls through as contracts renew and October's 22% drop was a credit scare against a company KB had just marked up 124. If CanSemi lands those designs onshore, the pricing power is a two-year window and the rout was right 3. One overlooked fact cuts across both paths: Weebit Nano's October quarterly report says DB HiTek has qualified its ReRAM process, a memory technology pitched at AI's power bill, and work continues with Texas Instruments+2.12% — Texas Instruments, up 2.12 percent today and onsemi+4.96% — onsemi, up 4.96 percent today 8. The next preliminary print shows the new price sheet; that, not CoreWeave, is the number to watch.
Deepdive
AI-generated from this story and its cited sources. Not investment advice.
