South Korea's SK Hynix has officially joined the group of companies with a market value of over $1 trillion, becoming the second firm in the country's history to reach this milestone. The event comes amid soaring demand for semiconductors used in artificial intelligence (AI).
SK Hynix, the world's second-largest memory chipmaker, achieved this feat in the past week as investors flocked to the stock on record revenue from the AI boom. The company's share price has surged 240% since the start of 2026, with a rise of more than 80% this month alone.
The move follows two of SK Hynix's main rivals, Micron (US) and Samsung Electronics (South Korea), also reaching the trillion-dollar mark this month thanks to a global shortage of DRAM and NAND chips.
SK Hynix's market capitalization reached 1.66 quadrillion won ($1.10 trillion) on March 21, after shares rose nearly 2% in the session. The rally reflects a broader AI-driven uptrend in South Korea's stock market, with the KOSPI index doubling this year.
In terms of business performance, SK Hynix's operating profit in the first quarter of this year surged fivefold year-on-year to 37.6 trillion won ($24.9 billion). Revenue reached 52.6 trillion won ($34.8 billion), tripling year-on-year.
Historically, only 17 companies have ever reached a market capitalization of $1 trillion, with all but five based in the US. China's PetroChina was the first to hit the mark in 2007, but its value quickly collapsed after the 2008 crisis. Apple reached the milestone in August 2018, followed by Amazon (September 2018), Microsoft (April 2019), and Alphabet (January 2020).
Among the 14 companies currently valued at least $1 trillion, SK Hynix is one of four based outside the US, alongside Samsung Electronics, TSMC (Taiwan), and Saudi Aramco (Saudi Arabia).
