SK Hynix, the memory chip maker, has overtaken Samsung Electronics to become South Korea’s most valuable listed company after nearly going under from heavy debt about 20 years ago.
SK Hynix Takes The Market Crown
On Monday, SK Hynix’s market value climbed to over 2,080 trillion won, or 1.35 trillion U.S. dollars, after its shares rose about 5% in Seoul, according to Reuters. Meanwhile, a slight drop in Samsung’s share price brought its market capitalization to around 2,081 trillion won, putting Hynix just ahead. This marks the first time since around 2000 that Samsung is no longer the top Korean-listed company.
This surge comes from SK Hynix’s role at the center of the AI chip boom. The firm is now the dominant supplier of high‑bandwidth memory, or HBM, chips used in advanced AI systems for customers such as Nvidia and Google. Data shows that SK Hynix shares have soared more than 340% this year, beating Samsung’s roughly 200% gain and pushing its value above both Samsung and Micron.
Meritz Securities analyst Kim Sun‑woo told Reuters that “the emergence of customized AI memory fundamentally changed the industry’s economics and allowed SK Hynix to establish itself as the market leader.”
That change has turned HBM into one of the most important pieces of AI hardware, and investors are clearly betting on the company that grabbed the early lead. Although Samsung is racing to expand its HBM output, SK Hynix currently supplies most of the memory sitting next to Nvidia’s top AI chips.
From Near Bankruptcy To AI Powerhouse
This moment also underlines how dramatic SK Hynix’s recovery has been. In the early 2000s, it sat on the brink of collapse under a large debt load and needed rescue deals and backing from the SK Group to survive. Today, it ranks as the world’s most valuable memory chipmaker by market value and has joined the small group of global tech firms with a trillion‑dollar‑plus valuation.
Samsung has pushed back on some headlines, arguing that if you include its preferred shares, its total market cap still edges out SK Hynix. Yet local media and many investors note that, on common shares alone, Hynix has dethroned Samsung on the main KOSPI board for the first time in roughly 25 years.
READ MORE: Will Solana Price Surge to $100 or Suffer Another Capitulation Drop?
