Prime Highlights
- SK Hynix overtook Samsung Electronics on Monday to become South Korea’s most valuable listed company, ending Samsung’s 25-year run at the top.
- The company holds 61% of the global HBM chip market, making it the dominant supplier of AI memory chips to customers including Nvidia and Google.
Key Facts
- SK Hynix was founded in 1983 as a Hyundai unit and later acquired by SK Group, a South Korean conglomerate spanning telecoms and energy.
- Unlike conventional memory, HBM chips are custom-integrated with AI processors, giving suppliers higher barriers to entry and greater pricing power.
Background
SK Hynix has overtaken Samsung Electronics to become South Korea’s most valuable listed company, driven by surging demand for artificial intelligence chips and a market capitalisation that crossed 2,082.5 trillion won ($1.35 trillion).
Shares of the chipmaker rose 5.7% on Monday, pushing its market value just ahead of Samsung Electronics’ 2,081.3 trillion won, excluding preferred shares. The crossing ends Samsung’s run at the top, which had held since 2000.
The milestone reflects SK Hynix’s dominance in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a specialised type of memory stacked vertically to deliver faster performance and lower power consumption. These chips are tightly integrated with AI processors used by companies such as Nvidia and Google, making SK Hynix a critical supplier in the global AI infrastructure chain. By last year, the company held 61% of the global HBM market, well ahead of Micron at 21% and Samsung at 17%.
The rise marks one of the most dramatic corporate turnarounds in South Korean history. In the early 2000s, the company, then called Hynix Semiconductor, was on the verge of collapse, crippled by debt and nearly sold to Micron. Its shares fell as low as 135 won in 2003. As recently as 2023, a severe memory market downturn pushed it to an annual operating loss of 7.73 trillion won. In 2024, it was enjoying the wave of artificial intelligence, reporting an all-time high operating profit of 23.5 trillion won.
It is also considering listing itself on the Nasdaq stock exchange.