South Korea’s massive $2.2 trillion rally takes it past France amid AI boom

South Korea has surged past France in stock market value, propelled by gains in technology shares riding the global boom in artificial intelligence.

The Asian nation’s stock market climbed to a valuation of $3.76 trillion, after adding roughly $2.23 trillion since the start of 2025, according to Bloomberg-compiled data as of Tuesday. That surpassed France’s $3.69 trillion, making Korea the world’s ninth-largest stock market.

Korea’s leap past France and Germany this year underscores how rapidly investors have repriced its market, funneling capital into AI-linked leaders in memory chips and robotics. The surge reflected a combination of shareholder-friendly reforms and the country’s growing importance in the global AI supply chain, allowing its stocks to outperform those of larger economies despite a smaller overall economic footprint.

The equity benchmark Kospi index has jumped about 44% and is the world’s best-performing stock market this year, while France’s CAC 40 index has risen about 4% due to comparatively weaker investor sentiment, less weighting of tech stocks and political and economic headwinds in the European nation.

Despite Korea’s catch-up in market value, it remains a smaller economy than that of France. In 2024, Korea ranked 12th globally on gross domestic product, while France held seventh-place, according to World Bank data. France’s economy was about 70% bigger at roughly $3.16 trillion versus $1.88 trillion.

Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s strong backing of the stock market and push for governance reforms helped spark last year’s rally, alongside memory-chip shortages and price hikes that drove sharp gains in Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. A boom in robotics has also fueled big advances in Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliates.