The SK Hynix logo will be displayed on the glass wall during the 2026 World IT Show to be held in Seoul on April 22, 2026.
Jung Young Jae | AFP | Getty Images
SK Hynix stock rose as much as 11% on Wednesday, pushing the South Korean chipmaker’s market capitalization above $1 trillion as investors continued to flock to artificial intelligence-related semiconductor stocks.
SK Hynix’s share price has soared about 250% since the beginning of the year, fueled by a surge in demand for high-bandwidth memory chips used in AI servers and accelerators, further extending the stock rally.
The company has emerged as a key supplier to the AI chip giants. Nvidiasolidifying its position as the center of the global AI supply chain.
The rise came just weeks after domestic rival Samsung Electronics also surpassed $1 trillion in market capitalization. Samsung Electronics stock rose more than 6% on Wednesday.
The two chipmakers account for more than 40% of South Korea’s benchmark Kospi, underscoring how closely the index’s performance is tied to global demand for AI-related semiconductors and memory chips.
According to LSEG data, the Kospi index has almost doubled since the beginning of the year.
Analysts warn that centralization could increase market volatility and further expose the benchmark to risks such as supply chain disruptions and a slowdown in global data center investment.
There may still be room for SK Hynix to rise, said Peter Kim, global investment strategist at KB Financial Group. He emphasized that the increase in earnings has outweighed the sharp rise in stock prices.
“The fundamentals and valuations of the two twin towers… are still largely intact,” Kim said, referring to SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics.
He said SK Hynix’s valuation has become “undervalued” because analysts have raised their earnings estimates faster than the stock’s rise.
