Data released on Sunday shows that while South Korea's stock market has staged a significant rebound from the crash triggered by a steep selloff in chip and AI-related stocks, the scale of short selling continues to rise.

According to data from the Korea Exchange, as of this Tuesday, open short positions were valued at around 19 trillion won (approximately $13.4 billion), an increase of 2.27 trillion won, or 14%, from 16.73 trillion won at the end of last month.

At the end of February, short selling volume in South Korean stocks stood at 15 trillion won, which fell to 12 trillion won in early March before climbing to 23 trillion won in early June.

So far this month, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) has risen 6%, while the tech-heavy KOSDAQ index has surged 20%.

Last month, the South Korean stock market experienced a sharp decline on concerns that the profit outlook for AI-related investments had deteriorated and that chip demand could shrink.

However, investors remain cautious about this short-term rapid rebound and are still unable to determine whether the chip industry has already peaked.