SK Hynix Tops Samsung with ₩2,080.4T Market Cap on HBM Chip Dominance
SK Hynix overtook Samsung as South Korea’s most valuable company after shares rose 5.6%, lifting its market capitalization to 2,080.4 trillion won versus Samsung’s 2,066.7 trillion won. Dominance in high-bandwidth memory chips for AI systems, including Google’s, fueled a 340% gain and a 61% share of the 2025 HBM market.
1. SK Hynix Surpasses Samsung
On June 22 SK Hynix shares gained 5.6%, pushing its market capitalization to 2,080.4 trillion won compared with Samsung’s 2,066.7 trillion won and ending Samsung’s 26-year run as South Korea’s top listed company.
2. HBM Market Leadership
SK Hynix commands a 61% share of the global high-bandwidth memory market in 2025, driven by customized AI memory chips that deliver unique performance for systems built by customers such as Google and Nvidia. Year-to-date gains of 340% reflect strong demand across the AI sector.
3. Implications for Google AI Systems
With SK Hynix as the dominant HBM supplier, Google’s next-generation AI infrastructure may benefit from optimized memory performance, though reliance on a single supplier could affect pricing and supply chain resilience.
