SK Hynix Tops $1 Trillion Market Cap for First Time as Global Rush for AI Chips Accelerates. With this development, the South Korean memory giant now joins Samsung Electronics and U.S. rival Micron Technology in the same valuation category, as noted on Reuters Morning Bid today.
Shares of SK Hynix soared as much as 11% on Wednesday, taking its market capitalization beyond the $1 trillion level. The surge was the culmination of a spectacular rally that had taken the stock up roughly 250% so far this year, after it had already multiplied in 2025. Investors are relying heavily on the company’s high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, chips, which are essential for AI servers and accelerators used by giants like Nvidia.
The AI boom is still in its early stages. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives described the trend as only in the “third inning of a nine‑inning game” and said “AI is firing on all cylinders,” with demand for HBM, DRAM, and NAND at “unprecedented levels.” SK Hynix itself has forecast that AI chip demand will continue to exceed its manufacturing capacity for years, after recently reporting a fivefold jump in quarterly profit.
Due to this demand, SK Hynix has gone from being worth under $100 billion just 16 months ago to threatening the market values of global names like Walmart and Berkshire Hathaway. Its rise has also helped lift South Korea’s Kospi index, where SK Hynix and Samsung now account for a large share of the overall market value.
South Korea’s New Place In The Chip Hierarchy
The same AI memory wave just helped Samsung Electronics become the first $1 trillion corporation in South Korea. With SK Hynix now joining it above that line, South Korea becomes the first country outside the US to have more than one trillion-dollar company.
Now, global investors are comparing SK Hynix with Micron and other U.S. semiconductor players. SK Hynix and Samsung, while growing fast, are still trading at a lower profit multiple than Micron, leaving greater upside if the demand for AI remains strong, several analysts point out.
Meanwhile, the company is increasing capacity at home and overseas, particularly in the United States, to handle AI-related demands. The company’s role as a major provider of HBM places it at the center of a new “memory super-cycle,” as some analysts call it, in global tech markets, where AI models are increasing in size and demand more memory.
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