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AI · HBM · Market Leadership · Semiconductors
SK Hynix has surpassed Samsung Electronics to become South Korea's most valuable publicly traded company, driven by a 340 percent stock surge this year and its dominant position in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) essential for the global AI boom.
SK Hynix's market capitalization reached 2,082.5 trillion won (approximately $1.35 trillion), exceeding Samsung's 2,081.3 trillion won (excluding preferred shares). This marks a significant turnaround for SK Hynix, which faced near-bankruptcy in 2002 and reported a 7.73 trillion won operating loss in 2023.
The company's resurgence began in 2024, reporting a record 23.5 trillion won operating profit, directly benefiting from major AI investments by Microsoft, Google, and Meta. SK Hynix commands over 60 percent of the global HBM market, supplying Nvidia and Google, with its entire 2026 production capacity already sold out, as reported by Techzine.
To meet this escalating demand, SK Hynix committed approximately $8 billion to ASML for EUV machines and is investing $12.9 billion in a new South Korean packaging plant, as also reported by Techzine.