Meta is planning to sell excess AI computing capacity and model services to external customers, signaling a potential entry into the cloud computing market. This news, combined with Apple's discussions to source chips from Chinese memory suppliers YMTC and CXMT, triggered a sharp sell-off in South Korean chipmakers like Samsung and SK Hynix. This development raises concerns about a potential slowdown in AI infrastructure investment by big tech, which could lead to oversupply of AI chips and memory components. It also threatens the dominance of South Korean memory leaders as Apple diversifies its supply chain to Chinese alternatives. The Kospi index fell up to 7% on July 2, 2026, with Samsung and SK Hynix dropping at least 8%, prompting a temporary halt in programmatic selling of Kospi futures. Apple is reportedly in talks with YMTC (NAND flash) and CXMT (DRAM) for chips used in devices sold in China.
Background
Meta has been heavily investing in AI infrastructure, building massive compute clusters for training and inference. Surplus compute capacity is now being considered for external sale, similar to how Amazon Web Services (AWS) originated from Amazon's internal infrastructure. Meanwhile, Chinese memory manufacturers YMTC and CXMT have advanced to produce competitive NAND and DRAM, challenging South Korean incumbents.