Korean ETFs set for Hong Kong, U.S. market debuts amid global demand

Korean exchange-traded funds tracking Seoul's benchmark stocks are set to debut on Hong Kong and U.S. exchanges as the artificial intelligence boom and surging memory chip demand fuel growing global appetite for Korean equities, The Korea Times reported Monday.

The push marks a significant expansion in global access to Korean equities, and could offer Orange County's large Korean-American community new pathways to invest in Seoul-listed stocks without maintaining a domestic Korean brokerage account.

CSOP Asset Management, a Hong Kong-based fund manager, plans to list a KOSPI 200 ETF on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in the second half of 2026, according to The Korea Times. If approved, the product would be the first ETF in Hong Kong to directly track Korea's benchmark index.

In the United States, Leverage Shares has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to launch a 2X Long Memory Daily ETF delivering twice the daily return of the Roundhill Memory ETF — a fund focused on memory chipmakers. That fund launched in early April 2026 and has drawn roughly $10 billion in assets. Samsung Electronics and SK hynix together account for nearly half of its holdings.

Korean equity products already have a foothold in Hong Kong. The Samsung Electronics leveraged ETF on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange holds about 2.4 trillion won ($1.75 billion) in assets, while the SK hynix leveraged ETF holds roughly 7.9 trillion won, The Korea Times reported.

"The introduction of a KOSPI 200 ETF could further improve overseas investors' access to Korean equities," said Lim Eun-hye, an analyst at Samsung Securities. "With Korean equities continuing to outperform, overseas investor interest is also growing. That increases the likelihood of more Korea-related ETFs launching on global markets going forward," Lim said.

For Orange County's Korean-American community — one of the nation's largest — the global expansion of Korean equity ETFs could lower the barrier to investing in Seoul-listed stocks, removing the need for a domestic Korean brokerage account.

The Hong Kong KOSPI 200 ETF listing awaits regulatory approval and is slated for the second half of 2026, with the timeline subject to market conditions, The Korea Times reported.