SK Hynix market cap briefly exceeded Samsung Electronics on Monday, June 22, ending a reign that stretched back to 2000 and marking one of the most dramatic reversals in Korean corporate history.

The new market cap high puts the South Korean company above the likes of Berkshire Hathaway, Eli Lilly, and Walmart. It is also now bigger than Bitcoin.

From Near-Bankruptcy to No. 1

As of ​03:47 GMT, June 22, SK Hynix’s market capitalization reached 2,082.5 trillion won ($1.35 trillion), edging past Samsung Electronics’ 2081.3 trillion won. The gap is narrow, but it is a significant move. Samsung had held the top spot on the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) without interruption since November 2000.

The turnaround is all the more striking given that SK Hynix was near collapse in 2002, when a debt-laden Hynix Semiconductor nearly sold itself to Micron. Its shares fell as low as 135 won in 2003.

As BeInCrypto reported on the KOSPI rally, Korean retail investors have been rotating aggressively into chip stocks this year.

AI Boom is Boosting New Powerhouses

The reversal reflects two very different trajectories this year. SK Hynix shares are up roughly 345% year-to-date, while Samsung has gained around 194%.

SK Hynix benefits from its near-total focus on memory chips, particularly high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in AI systems, contrasting with Samsung’s diversified business across logic chips and consumer electronics.

The milestone also puts SK Hynix ahead of Bitcoin (BTC), whose market cap sits at approximately $1.29 trillion, making the chipmaker a larger asset by value than the world’s leading cryptocurrency.

“The emergence of customised AI memory fundamentally changed the industry’s economics and allowed SK Hynix to establish itself as the market leader,” said Kim Sunwoo, senior analyst at Meritz Securities, via Reuters.

Source: BeInCrypto