SK Hynix Beats Samsung In Market Value To Become South Korea's Most Valuable Company

SK Hynix has become South Korea's most valuable company, overtaking Samsung Electronics in market capitalisation for the first time. Nearly 20 years ago, it was in debt.

SK Hynix shares climbed 5.6% on Monday, lifting its market capitalisation to 2,080.4 trillion won ($1.35 trillion), according to Reuters. While Samsung Electronics shares slipped 0.14%, leaving the company with a market value of 2,066.7 trillion won.

Samsung had a market value of around 500,000 billion won from January to April. It was ahead of its rivals, SK Hynix and US chipmaker Micron, who were both below 400,000 billion won. Its value jumped from around 500,000 billion won in April to more than 1.3 million billion won by late June after demand for AI increased.

SK Hynix is a major supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips used in AI servers and data centres. Its customers include major technology companies such as Nvidia and Google's parent company, Alphabet.

Kim Sunwoo, a senior analyst at Meritz Securities, said "The emergence of customised AI memory fundamentally changed the industry's ⁠economics and allowed SK Hynix to establish itself as the market leader."

In 2002, the company, then known as Hynix Semiconductor and part of the Hyundai Group, came close to being sold to US chipmaker Micron because of the debt. However, the deal was not made and in 2003 when Hynix's share price fell to just 135 won. In 2023, the business suffered a downturn, which led to the operational loss of 7.73 trillion won.

However, SK Hynix posted a record operating profit of 23.5 trillion won in 2024 when AI demand increased. By 2025, SK Hynix held over 61% of the worldwide HBM market, well ahead of Micron at 21% and Samsung Electronics at 17%. The company was originally founded in 1983 as part of Hyundai but was later acquired by SK Group.

"I really wanted to achieve turning it from a memory-maker into a leading semiconductor company whose products are indispensable," said Chey Tae-won, SK Group Chairman.