The OECD projects South Korea’s potential growth rate will fall to 1.52% in 2027 from 1.66% this year, despite strong export growth driven by a semiconductor boom. Quarterly estimates show potential growth dipping to 1.46% in Q4 2027 — the first time below 1.5% since the OECD began publishing the series.

Optimism in South Korean equities is cooling, prompting institutional investors to trim positions and buy protection. Hedge fund Golden Horse has cut risk exposure and increased derivatives hedges; Prudential reduced stakes in storage-chip and wafer-foundry names and shifted toward downstream AI supply‑chain exposure. Options flow shows investors buying puts on the iShares MSCI Korea ETF; the ETF fell 14% in US trading last Friday. Golden Horse managing partner Yi Ling Ong said, “In recent weeks we’ve modestly trimmed overall positions and layered on derivatives hedges,” and added that several large IPOs this month, including SpaceX, are expected to prompt institutions to raise cash, so “holding some cash is prudent.”

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang met KRAFTON’s founder and chairman and representatives from NCSOFT in Seoul on July 7 to discuss game-focused AI cooperation, including humanoid/“physical AI” applications and collaborations tied to NVIDIA’s newly launched AI laptop series, RTX Spark, Yonhap reported. NVIDIA has supplied DLSS rendering support for NCSOFT’s new title AION2; Huang viewed the game at a local PC bang and joined a brief livestream with NCSOFT executives to exchange views on the direction of the game industry and AI technology.