Lower than the 2008 financial crisis—yet nobody dares to buy.

This morning, South Korea’s market opened by crashing straight down.

KOSPI opened down 4.16%, and at one point fell more than 4.5% during the day, closing at 6,515 points. Samsung Electronics fell more than 5%, and SK Hynix fell more than 5%. KOSDAQ triggered a circuit breaker immediately, and programmatic sell orders were paused for 5 minutes.

Some people say this is “catch-up” selling—last Friday’s global semiconductor selloff occurred while South Korea was closed for trading, and today it’s settling the bill all at once.

KOSPI’s 12-month forward P/E has already dropped to 5.78.

Lower than the trough of the 2008 financial crisis. The lowest since 2004.

A market that’s even cheaper than the Lehman moment is being abandoned by everyone.

How brutal is this selloff? Since the June 22 peak, KOSPI is down nearly 25%. Global chip stocks wiped out more than $3 trillion in market value in just a few weeks.

Did the fundamentals really collapse?

Samsung Electronics’ operating profit in Q2 was 89.4 trillion won, up 18 times year-over-year. At SK Hynix, KB Securities directly raised its target price from 3.8 million won to 4.2 million won, because it expects DRAM prices to rise 199% and NAND to rise 255%.

Earnings surged 18-fold, yet the stock price fell 25%.

What is the market pricing in?

Not “now”—but “the future.” The market is betting that AI capital expenditures won’t be sustainable, and that once tech giants’ money runs out, they won’t keep spending.

The most bizarre thing is happening

While South Korean chip stocks were getting bloodbathed—

TSMC announced: an additional $100 billion investment in the U.S., bringing its total investment to $265 billion. It will build four new fabs, including cutting-edge processes at 2nm and below.

TSMC CFO’s exact words: “We are doing our best to expand capacity wherever expansion is possible.”

On one side, money is rushing out of the secondary market. On the other, the industry leader is going all in on expansion.

Who’s wrong?

Wall Street has already split

Goldman Sachs says: KOSPI target price is 12,000 points. If you buy now, there’s more than 20% upside. Even if you assume earnings are cut by 41%—equivalent to the worst level of the financial crisis—KOSPI’s reasonable level is still 8,965 points, far above today’s level.

UBS says: target price 9,200 points, but suggests “defensive positioning.”

Hanwha Securities says the selloff “seems excessive,” and that U.S. tech giants’ earnings could be a catalyst for a rebound.

Three camps, three directions.

But everyone is staring at the same thing: the U.S. mega-cap tech earnings reports this week.

What does this mean for crypto?

Alphabet, Tesla, and Intel all release earnings reports this week. What will the market look at? Not profits—it's the next guidance on AI capital expenditures.

If the giants say “keep the money coming”—chip stocks rebound, the AI narrative lives on, risk appetite repairs, and BTC might get to catch its breath.

If the giants say “we’ll see the return”—chip stocks keep crashing, the AI bubble thesis gets validated, and BTC as the top risk asset target gets shot again.

Today’s plunge in Korean stocks isn’t a problem only for South Korea. It’s the epicenter of a global collapse in confidence in the AI narrative.

“When markets are more panicked than in 2008, it’s often not the most dangerous time—but the most testing time for faith.”

A P/E of 5.78x implies the market is telling you: these companies’ earnings will fall by more than 40% next year.

Samsung profits up 18-fold, TSMC adding $100 billion to expand capacity, and the capital expenditures of the five major cloud service providers are still growing at a pace above 80%.

Either the market is all wrong—or it’s you who should run. #GUSD年化升至3.8% #GateDEX全面接入RobinhoodChain #台积电Q2净利暴增77.4% $BTC $SAMSUNG $SKHY