For the first time in 26 years, Samsung Electronics is no longer the most valuable company in South Korea. SK Hynix, a memory chipmaker, achieved this milestone due to soaring demand for AI hardware.
SK Hynix shares rose approximately 5.6% on June 22, elevating its market capitalization to around 2,082 trillion won, or about $1.35 trillion. Meanwhile, Samsung's market cap was between 2,066.7 and 2,081.3 trillion won, although including preferred shares would raise its valuation to around 2,252 trillion won.
Two decades ago, SK Hynix struggled under debt with shares valued at roughly 135 won. Now, it stands as the world's leading memory chipmaker, having captured about 61% of the global High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) market by 2025, significantly outperforming Samsung's 17% share.
The rise is attributed to HBM chips that enhance data transfer speeds, critical to AI accelerators like Nvidia’s GPUs. SK Hynix has emerged as the key supplier amid Samsung's challenges with HBM yield issues, impacting its ability to secure major orders.