SK Hynix has become the most valuable company listed on South Korea’s stock market, passing Samsung Electronics for the first time in about 25 years. The company’s success comes from the huge demand for artificial intelligence (AI). SK Hynix makes special memory chips called High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) chips, which are used in AI systems by major technology companies such as Nvidia and Google.
Due to the rise of AI, SK Hynix’s share price has risen by over 340% this year. Its market capitalisation recently surpassed Samsung Electronics. This makes it the most valuable company listed on South Korea’s stock market for the first time in decades. It is reported that SK Hynix emerged as a leader largely by growing demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips used in AI systems. This achievement is especially remarkable because the company once faced serious financial problems. In 2002, the company, then known as Hynix Semiconductor, was close to being sold to Micron because it had huge debts. The sale did not go through, and the company remained under the control of its creditors for many years.
In 2003, its share price fell to just 135 won, and many investors saw it as a very cheap “penny stockLike many memory chip companies, SK Hynix went through ups and downs. In 2023, falling memory chip prices caused the company to report a large operating loss of 7.73 trillion won. However, the company recovered strongly as demand for AI grew. Big technology companies such as Microsoft, Google, and Meta increased their spending on AI, boosting demand for SK Hynix’s chips.
As a result, SK Hynix reported a record operating profit of 23.5 trillion won in 2024, completing one of the biggest business turnarounds in South Korea’s history.
