Samsung Electronics powered the bounce, jumping 9.8 percent after it was reported to be mulling a record buyback of $65 billion buyback scheme, while SK hynix rose just 1.0 percent. The stock reclaimed No. 1 spot in market value in just two days.
Domestic buyers carried the recovery, with individuals and institutions buying a combined 4.52 trillion won against another 4.63 trillion won of foreign selling. The snap-back fit a pattern that has held after the market's steepest falls, when a heavy drop is almost always followed by a gain.
The region diverged.
Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.9 percent as Tokyo chip stocks slid, Chinese chipmakers rallied while the Shanghai Composite held flat, and the won weakened. The next test for chip sentiment comes after Wednesday's U.S. close, when memory rival Micron Technology reports earnings watched for signs of AI demand.
In Seoul, the recovery followed a now-familiar script. The record 12.1 percent crash on March 4 was met by a 9.6 percent surge the next session, and an 8 percent fall on June 8 by a 4.8 percent rebound on June 9. By one count in Korean media, eight of the index's 10 worst single-day drops were followed by a gain the next day.
The bounce broadened as the session wore on, moving beyond chips into biotechnology and pharmaceutical shares. Samsung Biologics rose 9.2 percent to 1,390,000 won ($901), among the day's strongest gainers.
Tuesday's fall was the largest single-day point drop in KOSPI history and its fifth-largest by percentage, and it triggered the year's fourth circuit breaker. The record by percentage remains the 12.06 percent plunge on March 4, 2026, after the outbreak of the U.S.-Iran war, followed by a 12.02 percent fall on Sept. 12, 2001, an 11.63 percent drop on April 17, 2000, and a 10.57 percent fall on Oct. 24, 2008.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gave up an early advance to close at 69,174.97. Tokyo Electron fell 4.2 percent to 69,900 yen, Lasertec dropped 2.7 percent to 50,610 yen, and Advantest slipped 0.7 percent to 31,200 yen.
In China, chip shares ran the other way. SMIC, the country's largest contract chipmaker, climbed 7.7 percent, JCET Group rose 10.0 percent, and Cambricon gained 3.5 percent, while the Shanghai Composite closed little changed at 4,109.56.
The won weakened even as equities rallied, with the dollar quoted at 1,542.60 won, up 9.10 on the day, under the weight of the foreign outflow.
South Korea's regulator has signaled it may tighten rules on the leveraged single-stock funds blamed for magnifying the recent swings. The next read on chip demand arrives with Micron's results after the U.S. close.
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