SK Hynix briefly tops Samsung as AI chip boom lifts shares

SK Hynix briefly seized South Korea’s top market-value crown from Samsung Electronics, a symbolic jolt to the country’s corporate hierarchy and a sign of how sharply artificial intelligence has repriced the memory-chip business. The Seoul-based chipmaker’s shares climbed 5.7% on Monday, pushing its market capitalization to 2,082.5 trillion won, or about $1.35 trillion, just above Samsung Electronics’ 2,081.3 trillion won, excluding preferred shares.

The move mattered far beyond a single trading session. Samsung Electronics had held the No. 1 spot since 2000, and some market histories stretch that lead back to 1999, depending on the timing used. Either way, the reversal underscored a deeper shift: investors are rewarding the companies most exposed to the AI buildout, especially those supplying the memory chips that sit at the center of high-performance data centers.

SK Hynix has been the clearest beneficiary. Its shares have surged more than 340% this year, outpacing Samsung Electronics’ roughly 200% rise, as U.S. technology giants race to expand AI infrastructure and fill it with advanced chips. That scramble has tightened supply, lifted prices and delivered record profits for South Korean semiconductor makers, whose exports are central to the country’s economy.

The company’s latest results show how forcefully the cycle has turned. SK Hynix reported first-quarter revenue of 52.5763 trillion won, operating profit of 37.6103 trillion won and net profit of 40.3459 trillion won, all record levels. In April, it said operating profit jumped 406% year over year to a record 37.6 trillion won, and it credited strong AI demand while pledging to keep investing to meet demand in the agentic AI era.

That turnaround is especially striking given where SK Hynix stood just two decades ago, when it nearly collapsed under debt. In 2023, it posted an annual operating loss of 7.73 trillion won during a severe memory-chip downturn. Now it is the dominant supplier of high-bandwidth memory chips used in AI systems for customers including Nvidia and Alphabet’s Google.

The company’s position was reinforced on June 8, when Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang said SK Hynix would remain Nvidia’s largest partner. The two companies also signed a multi-year agreement covering chip design and manufacturing, deepening a relationship that has become central to the AI supply chain.

SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics both crossed $1 trillion in market value in 2026, but Monday’s brief change at the top suggested the balance of power inside Korean tech is no longer fixed. If AI spending remains strong, the market may keep favoring the chipmakers best positioned in high-bandwidth memory and other advanced components. For Samsung, the moment was a reminder that even the most established industrial giant can be overtaken when a new technology cycle shifts where the profits sit.