SK Hynix Overtakes Samsung as South Korea's Most Valuable Listed Company, Driven by HBM Demand

SK Hynix Overtakes Samsung as South Korea's Most Valuable Listed Company

SK Hynix surpassed Samsung Electronics on Monday to become the highest-valued company on South Korea's KOSPI index, according to Reuters — the first time Samsung has lost the top position since November 2000.

SK Hynix shares closed up 5.6% on the day, pushing its market capitalization to 208.04 trillion Korean won (approximately $1.35 trillion USD), edging ahead of Samsung's 206.67 trillion won (excluding preferred shares). The milestone caps a year-to-date share price gain of more than 340%, almost entirely driven by the company's role as a leading supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) to Nvidia and other AI chip buyers.

HBM Market Dominance

SK Hynix held a 61% share of the global HBM market in 2025, compared with 17% for Samsung and 21% for Micron.

Unlike Samsung, which spans smartphones, displays, foundry services, and home appliances, SK Hynix is one of the few pure-play memory manufacturers. Investors favor pure-play memory companies because HBM commands the highest margins in the industry and creates strong supplier lock-in with specific AI accelerator platforms — unlike standard DRAM, where customers can more easily switch vendors.

Sustained Investment Through Downturn Built the Lead

SK Hynix's competitive advantage traces back to its decision to continue investing in HBM R&D during the memory market downturn of 2023, even as plummeting prices drove a full-year operating loss of 7.73 trillion Korean won. By contrast, Samsung's HBM3E chips reportedly suffered yield and qualification delays that cost it key orders from Nvidia — a direct contributor to the wide gap in market share.

Narrowing the Gap in Conventional DRAM

Samsung retains an advantage in conventional DRAM, though that gap is gradually closing. Bank of America estimates SK Hynix's monthly DRAM wafer capacity at approximately 589,000 wafers this year, versus Samsung's roughly 691,000. SK Hynix is projected to expand capacity by approximately 38% between 2025 and 2028, compared with around 17.5% for Samsung, narrowing the production gap from roughly 23% in 2025 to below 10% by 2028.

Notably, capacity allocated to HBM at both companies has reduced supply of standard memory chips; both firms have previously warned that shortages of conventional memory could persist beyond 2027. SK Hynix has also pledged to double its memory wafer output within five years.

Samsung Contests the Market Cap Ranking

Samsung stated publicly that its market capitalization calculation should include preferred shares, which would bring its total to 224.64 trillion won — above SK Hynix's figure.

The current gap also reflects the competitive dynamics of the HBM3 and HBM3E generation, rather than the trajectory of next-generation products. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang confirmed earlier this month that Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron have all passed HBM4 qualification for the Vera Rubin platform. Samsung also shipped the industry's first 12-layer HBM4E samples on May 29.

A Long-Term Strategic Vision

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won championed the acquisition of Hynix against internal opposition and outlined his strategic thinking in a book published in January of this year.

"What we really wanted to achieve when we acquired Hynix was to transform it from a commodity memory producer into a mainstream company that makes indispensable semiconductor products," Chey said.

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