Dan Ives, senior managing director at Yorkville Ives & Co. and one of Wall Street's best-known technology bulls, dismissed the recent slide in South Korea's KOSPI as oversold and a buying opportunity, forecasting the index will surpass its previous record high within a year. The artificial intelligence-driven fourth industrial revolution is still in its early stages, less than 15% complete, he said, urging investors not to be shaken by short-term volatility and to position for a multiyear tech-led bull market.
Speaking at a briefing on the 14th in Seoul's Yeouido district to mark the launch of the joint venture Yorkville Ives, Ives said Wall Street paid little attention to the Korean market just four or five years ago but that its standing has changed so much that "even New York taxi drivers now mention the KOSPI." The recent correction, he said, was "excessive panic driven by fear." Foreign net selling is in its final phase, he said, and as the gap between fundamentals and share prices narrows, the KOSPI will reclaim its previous high within six to 12 months. Ives is a regular panelist on CNBC and Bloomberg and is regarded as one of Wall Street's leading technology analysts and bulls.
Ives also dismissed concerns that China's ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) is closing in on Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) and SK hynix (000660.KS), calling them fiction. "The China-rising narrative is fiction, no different from the 'SaaSpocalypse,'" he said. "Korean companies are three years ahead of China in technology, and the memory supply shortage will continue into early 2029." Because memory is "the heart and lungs" of Big Tech and software expansion, he said, the recent plunge in share prices rests on thin ground.
On talk of an AI bubble, Ives likened the current moment not to 1999, when the dot-com bubble burst, but to 1997, when it was just taking shape. Unlike 1999, when companies commanded price-to-sales ratios of 30 times on PowerPoint presentations without earnings, Big Tech today holds trillions of dollars in cash on its balance sheets, is delivering earnings and trades at about 23 times, he said.
Ives framed the current market as an all-night party. "At an AI party that runs until 4 a.m., it is only 11:30 p.m. right now," he said. "The police may show up mid-party, broken glass may roll across the floor and the DJ may cut the music — that is the short-term plunge — but in the end it is the people inside dancing to the music who enjoy the night."
"The pessimists will stand outside watching and regret it when dawn comes," he added. "Skeptics look smart, but bulls make money." His reasoning is that Big Tech capital spending will expand to $3 trillion to $4 trillion and that a virtuous cycle in which every $1 invested returns $5 to $6 will continue.
For stocks that will lead the market in 2027, he pointed to Nvidia, Microsoft, Palantir, Apple and CrowdStrike. On Tesla and SpaceX, he said there is an 80% chance the two will merge within the next 12 months to become the world's largest hyperscaler, and that an opportunity is coming for Tesla shareholders who have endured the stock's recent weakness. For Anthropic and OpenAI, which are pursuing initial public offerings on staggered timelines, he recommended investing in both rather than trying to pick a winner.
Among undervalued Korean beneficiaries, he named Hyundai Motor (005380.KS), citing its strength in physical AI and autonomous driving, and Hanwha Group shares, which he expects to benefit in defense and finance. Ives, who recently left Wedbush Securities after a long tenure there to team up with Yorkville, also introduced the Ives Ultra Opportunity Fund (IVAI), a $100 million closed-end fund recently listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and outlined plans to seek out unlisted AI unicorns that are typically out of reach for ordinary investors.