SK Hynix Surpasses Samsung as South Korea's Most Valuable Company

SK Hynix has surpassed Samsung Electronics to become South Korea's most valuable listed company, marking a remarkable turnaround for a chipmaker that nearly collapsed under debt two decades ago, Heekyong Yang reported for Reuters.

The surge in demand for HBM chips has helped drive a more than 340 percent increase in SK Hynix shares this year. (Image: SK Hynix )

The company, now the dominant supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips used in artificial intelligence systems by customers including Nvidia and Google's parent company Alphabet, has emerged as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the global AI boom.

The surge in demand has helped drive a more than 340 percent increase in SK Hynix shares this year, lifting its market value above those of Samsung Electronics and US rival Micron Technology.

Shares of SK Hynix closed up 5.6 percent, pushing its market capitalization to 2,080.4 trillion won ($1.35 trillion).

Samsung shares slipped 0.14 percent, leaving the electronics giant with a market value of 2,066.7 trillion won, excluding preferred shares.

Artificial intelligence has reshaped the global semiconductor industry, transforming advanced memory chips from commodity products into critical components supporting applications such as ChatGPT and other sophisticated AI models.

While SK Hynix focuses primarily on memory chips, Samsung maintains a broader business portfolio that includes logic chips, smartphones and televisions. Samsung had held the title of South Korea's most valuable listed company since 2000.