There's a new report out from Mirae Asset Securities that's turning heads in the AI investing world. The brokerage has raised its target price on SK Hynix Inc (NASDAQ:SKHY) by 10.7% to 3.1 million won, and the reasoning goes far beyond just one company. It's about the entire memory chip ecosystem and how it's becoming the next bottleneck in the AI arms race.

Here's the gist: high-bandwidth memory (HBM) demand is no longer just a Nvidia story. As more tech giants roll out their own custom AI accelerators, they're all hungry for HBM. That shift could have big implications for investors, and there are now a bunch of ETFs that let you ride this wave in different ways.

HBM: The AI Bottleneck

Mirae Asset expects demand for HBM capacity and bandwidth to stay strong as GPU makers move toward HBM4 and pack more memory into each accelerator. The numbers are staggering. AMD's MI455X, for instance, is expected to feature 12 HBM4 stacks with 432GB of memory. Nvidia Corp's (NASDAQ:NVDA) Rubin platform comes with 288GB of HBM4, while Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ:META) and Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) are also boosting HBM capacity in their custom AI accelerators, according to the report.

But the real game-changer is the diversification of customers. Instead of HBM demand being almost synonymous with Nvidia, Mirae Asset sees growing adoption among custom AI chips developed by companies like Meta and Microsoft. The brokerage expects this customer diversification to accelerate as proprietary AI accelerators become more common.

That's a big deal because it broadens the investment opportunity beyond just one chip designer. It potentially opens up the entire memory supply chain as a theme worth betting on.

DRAM: The Purest Memory Play

If you want the most direct ETF expression of this theme, look no further than the Roundhill Memory ETF (BATS:DRAM). It's the first memory-focused ETF, offering targeted exposure to global memory-chip companies. The fund is built around the secular growth in memory and storage driven by AI infrastructure.

DRAM has meaningful exposure to the three companies at the heart of the memory market. Samsung Electronics accounts for about 25.14% of the portfolio, SK Hynix about 23%, and Micron Technology, Inc (NASDAQ:MU) about 25%. That makes DRAM particularly interesting for investors who believe the AI trade is moving beyond GPUs and into the memory bottleneck.

SMH and SOXX: A Broader AI-Chip Bet

If you prefer a wider net, the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SMH) holds companies across the entire semiconductor ecosystem. Its portfolio includes Nvidia, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (NYSE:TSM), Micron, Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO), and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD). That gives you exposure to both AI processors and the companies supplying the infrastructure around them. The fund has gained about 58% year-to-date.

The iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXX) provides another diversified route. Its largest holdings include Nvidia, Micron, AMD, and Broadcom, making it less directly tied to the HBM cycle than DRAM but still exposed to rising AI semiconductor demand. SOXX had gained over 74% year to date.

EWY gives investors a South Korea angle

There's also a geographic way to play this theme. The iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (NYSE:EWY) has SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics as its two largest holdings. SK Hynix represents 25% of the fund, and Samsung accounts for another 23%. That means almost half of EWY is currently concentrated in the two South Korean tech giants that dominate the country's AI-memory story.

For investors bullish on the Korean semiconductor industry but unwilling to make a single-stock bet, EWY offers a more diversified alternative.

An Even More Aggressive Option

The surge in interest around SK Hynix has also spawned leveraged ETFs. For instance, the Direxion Daily SK Hynix Bull 2X ETF (NYSE:SKHL) and the ProShares Ultra SK Hynix ETF (NYSE:SKHU) both seek 200% of the daily performance of SK Hynix. They launched soon after SK Hynix's ADR began trading, making the company much easier for U.S. investors to access.

These funds are a very different proposition from DRAM, SMH, or EWY. They're designed for short-term leveraged exposure, and daily compounding can significantly affect returns over longer holding periods. So if you're thinking of holding them for more than a day or two, you need to understand the math.

The Bigger ETF Story

The SK Hynix thesis is increasingly becoming an AI memory story rather than simply a semiconductor story. Mirae Asset expects SK Hynix's DRAM average selling prices to rise 15.8% sequentially in the third quarter, 7.2% in the fourth quarter, and 23.9% in 2027. It also expects operating profit to reach 386 trillion won in 2027.

For ETF investors, that creates several ways to express the same AI thesis. DRAM offers the most concentrated memory exposure. SMH and SOXX provide broader semiconductor exposure. EWY offers a South Korea-focused route, while SKHL and SKHU provide leveraged exposure to SK Hynix itself.

As AI accelerators pack in more HBM, the memory trade could become an increasingly important part of the ETF market's next phase of the AI boom.