Samsung Loses 25-Year Market Cap Crown

JAKARTA — Samsung market cap has been overtaken by SK Hynix for the first time, and the shift comes from booming demand for AI chips, not smartphones. In market value terms, the crown that sat on Samsung’s head for 25 years has finally changed hands.

According to Reuters, SK Hynix is now valued at 2,080.4 trillion won, or about US$1.35 trillion. Samsung stands at 2,066.7 trillion won, roughly US$1.34 trillion, with preferred shares excluded from the count. The gap is tiny. The impact is not.

For readers, this is more than a race between two South Korean giants. It signals where money is flowing, where the semiconductor industry is putting its weight, and why chips for artificial intelligence are now worth far more than many other parts of the tech supply chain.

Samsung market cap and the shift in AI chip power

For more than a quarter-century, Samsung stood as South Korea’s largest listed company by market capitalization. That position has now been taken by SK Hynix, a company long associated with memory chips rather than the global spotlight Samsung Electronics usually enjoys. The shift feels fast. Very fast.

The trigger is clear: demand for high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, has surged as AI servers need more power and speed. SK Hynix has become a key HBM supplier, with its memory used in AI systems from NVIDIA, Microsoft, and Google. Reuters says SK Hynix holds about 61 percent of the HBM market. Micron has 21 percent, while Samsung is at 17 percent.

HBM is not an ordinary chip. This memory type is built to move data much faster than standard DRAM, which is exactly what AI data centers need when they process large models every second. When AI demand rises, the valuation of companies that control HBM rises too. The market pays a premium for scarcity. That is the whole story here.

From near collapse to HBM leader

SK Hynix’s path was far from smooth. The company nearly went bankrupt before coming under SK Group’s control. In 2002, Hynix was almost sold to Micron. A year later, its shares were treated like a penny stock, changing hands at just 135 won, or about US$0.088 per share.

The jump from that low point to the top of South Korea’s stock market offers a lesson rarely told clearly enough: technology bets that look quiet when markets are bored can pay off hugely when a new wave arrives. SK Hynix kept working on HBM even when the broader memory market was weak. Reuters quoted analysts saying that patience now looks like the right strategic call.

In semiconductors, momentum often arrives without noise. The factories keep running. Testing keeps running. Shipments keep running. Then, suddenly, company value surges because the right product is in demand from everyone at once.

Why HBM gave SK Hynix the edge

Unlike many common memory chips that can be swapped more easily, HBM is more specialized and harder to ramp up quickly. That is why SK Hynix’s position is so strong. When cloud providers and AI chip makers scramble for capacity, the supplier that already has a deep foothold in HBM reaps the rewards first.

That advantage also reflects disciplined investment. SK Hynix kept expanding HBM development while many investors were pressing the memory sector because growth had slowed. Now the result shows up in the market. Valuation rises. Pricing power rises too.

And there is a ripple effect. When a company becomes a core supplier for the AI systems of tech giants, the market looks beyond today’s revenue and starts pricing in medium-term contracts, production capacity, and the chance for higher margins. That is why AI chip valuations move more aggressively than older memory businesses.

Samsung still holds key cards

Even after being overtaken in market capitalization, Samsung has not lost all of its advantages. The company still leads in DRAM production, a field that remains crucial in the memory ecosystem. Reuters cited Bank of America estimates saying SK Hynix is expected to narrow the production gap with Samsung to 10 percent by 2028.

For this year, SK Hynix is projected to produce nearly 589,000 DRAM wafers, while Samsung is expected to make around 691,000 wafers. That means Samsung is still ahead in scale. But the gap is closing. Fast.

Samsung told Reuters that its market capitalization should include preferred shares. Under that calculation, Samsung’s market value would reach 2,246.4 trillion won, or about US$1.46 trillion. The statement matters because it shows how valuation methodology can change rankings in a major way.

For investors, differences like this are not a small technicality. They affect how the market reads dominance, share liquidity, and ownership structure. For the public, the main point remains the same: the AI chip race has reshaped the hierarchy in South Korea.

What it means for readers and Asian markets

The shift matters far beyond South Korea. The prices of AI devices, laptops, servers, and even premium smartphones are all tied to semiconductor supply chains. When one player controls a highly demanded component, pricing and production capacity across the ecosystem are affected too.

Indonesia is not immune to those effects. Technology companies, data service providers, and electronics manufacturers across the region will be watching the semiconductor valuation shift closely. If HBM demand stays high, investment in memory fabs, capital spending, and supplier competition will intensify. The good news is that this can push innovation forward. The downside is that certain components may stay expensive.

At the market level, SK Hynix’s story shows something simple but often noticed too late: big money moves into the technology that gets used, not just the technology that gets talked about. AI has created new demand. HBM, once a niche product, has become a strategic asset. And at that point, the right company in the right place can rise much faster than a famous name that once seemed untouchable.

Reuters reported that Samsung says its market capitalization calculation should include preferred shares. Still, regardless of the methodological debate, the market has already delivered a blunt message: South Korea’s chip power map is changing, and SK Hynix is at the center of that change.

Quick summary

1. SK Hynix has overtaken Samsung’s market capitalization for the first time in South Korea, according to Reuters.

2. The main driver is soaring demand for HBM chips used in AI systems from NVIDIA, Microsoft, and Google.

3. Samsung still leads DRAM production, but the gap with SK Hynix is expected to narrow in the coming years.