June 22, 2026 marked a historic moment for South Korea’s capital markets. SK Hynix’s market capitalization reached KRW 208.2 trillion (approximately $1.35 trillion), briefly surpassing Samsung Electronics’ KRW 206.6 trillion and ending Samsung’s 25-year reign as the country’s most valuable publicly listed company. This event was not a mere market fluctuation, but rather a microcosm of the structural transformation in the semiconductor industry driven by surging AI computing power demand.
Over the past 12 months, SK Hynix’s shares listed in Korea soared by about 700% to 770%. Even after a roughly 20% pullback following its all-time high in June 2026, its annual gains still far outpaced its peers. Meanwhile, the explosive growth of the HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) market is redefining the competitive dynamics of the memory chip industry—shifting from traditional scale-based competition to a focus on technological density and supply chain positioning. This article unpacks the underlying logic of this wave of structural transformation in semiconductors from three perspectives: AI customer structure, HBM demand transmission, and changes in industry leadership.
HBM: From DRAM Subcategory to Core AI Strategic Asset
HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) is not a newly invented technology, but its elevation to strategic importance is entirely driven by AI computing power needs. During large model training and inference, massive parameters, KV Cache, and intermediate activation data must be continuously and rapidly transferred between GPUs and memory. Simply increasing peak GPU performance does not fully translate into effective computing power—memory capacity and bandwidth have become the core constraints on AI chip performance.
This technical bottleneck has transformed HBM from a DRAM subcategory into a core strategic asset for AI infrastructure. According to market research firms, the HBM market is projected to grow from $3.17 billion in 2025 to $3.98 billion in 2026, and could reach $12.44 billion by 2031, with a compound annual growth rate of 25.58% from 2026 to 2031. Other institutions forecast that the global HBM market value will approach $60 billion in 2026, with an annual growth rate close to 60%.
Behind this rapid market expansion lies the rigid demand for memory bandwidth in AI chip architectures. With the advent of NVIDIA’s Rubin and subsequent platforms, HBM4 and higher-end products will further boost bandwidth, capacity, and I/O density, and will be deeply integrated with GPUs through advanced packaging. HBM supply capability, yield rates, and packaging synergy will directly impact the performance and delivery pace of AI accelerator cards. This means HBM is no longer an "optional business" for memory chip manufacturers, but a key variable that determines their strategic position in the AI supply chain.
SK Hynix: The Core Node in the AI Memory Supply Chain
SK Hynix’s rise in this AI wave is fundamentally due to its precise positioning in the most valuable segment of the HBM supply chain—serving as a key memory supplier for NVIDIA’s AI training and inference chips.
On June 8, 2026, NVIDIA and SK Hynix announced a multi-year technology partnership to jointly develop NVIDIA’s next-generation AI memory and expand supply to meet the accelerating global buildout of AI factories. This partnership goes beyond a simple procurement agreement, involving deep collaboration on technology roadmaps, R&D process optimization, and capacity reservation.
In terms of order allocation, SK Hynix has secured more than two-thirds of NVIDIA’s HBM4 supply orders. Industry insiders report that SK Hynix’s supply share is close to 70% of NVIDIA’s HBM4 demand. For the NVIDIA Vera Rubin platform, SK Hynix holds about 60% to 70% of HBM4 supply, Samsung about 25% to 30%, and Micron supplies the remainder.
This supply landscape did not form by chance. HBM production involves numerous highly complex steps, including TSV (Through-Silicon Via), wafer thinning, advanced packaging, micro-bump/RDL, interposer, bonding and underfill materials, thermal management, KGD testing, and more. Customers demand extremely high mass production yields, and packaging synergy is challenging. SK Hynix’s first-mover advantage in HBM mass production and strong customer relationships are not easily disrupted in the short term.
Beyond NVIDIA, SK Hynix also supplies HBM chips to other AI customers, including Google. This diversified AI customer base provides additional demand cushioning amid HBM market fluctuations.
Financial Performance and Valuation Reassessment
SK Hynix’s stock rally is not mere speculative hype—it is underpinned by verifiable financial results.
In Q1 2026, SK Hynix delivered a record-breaking earnings report: operating revenue reached approximately KRW 52.58 trillion (about $35.1 billion), up 198% year-over-year, surpassing the KRW 50 trillion mark for the first time; operating profit was KRW 37.61 trillion, up 405%; net profit was KRW 40.35 trillion, up 398%. The operating margin soared to 72%, the highest in company history.
This surge in profitability stems from the high premium on HBM products and the continued rise in DRAM contract prices. DRAM contract prices rose 83% quarter-over-quarter, while NAND flash prices jumped 160% in just three months. Seller’s market pricing power directly translated into nonlinear profit expansion.
Notably, SK Hynix’s valuation logic is shifting from that of a "cyclical stock" to an "AI infrastructure stock." Traditionally, the memory chip industry is highly cyclical—supply-demand imbalances cause sharp price swings. But under sustained AI computing demand, the HBM supply-demand dynamic is showing new characteristics: all HBM capacity from the three major suppliers for 2026 has been fully booked by customers, and the market has shifted entirely to a seller’s market. This "pre-sold capacity" state is smoothing out the amplitude of traditional memory cycles to some extent.
Competitive Landscape: From Samsung’s Dominance to a Three-Way Standoff
SK Hynix’s brief market cap lead over Samsung reflects, on a broader level, the profound changes in the global memory chip competitive landscape.
In the overall DRAM market, Samsung still leads with a 38% share, followed by SK Hynix at 29% and Micron at 22%. But in the high-value HBM segment, the picture is very different. According to Counterpoint Research data released June 25, 2026, global HBM market share by revenue in Q1 2026 was: SK Hynix at 58%, Samsung and Micron each at 21%.
Although SK Hynix’s HBM market share declined from 69% in the same period of 2025, this was not due to lost orders. Samsung and Micron’s rapid ramp-up in HBM capacity and shipments diluted the leader’s absolute share—a normal stage as the market transitions from "single dominance" to a "three-way standoff."
Samsung has not stood by as its share erodes. The company plans to boost HBM capacity by 50% in 2026, targeting 250,000 wafers per month. By the end of 2025, Samsung’s monthly HBM capacity (170,000 wafers) had already surpassed SK Hynix (160,000 wafers). In HBM4 validation, Samsung leads, having addressed heat issues and improved efficiency through process upgrades.
SK Hynix, while slightly delayed in HBM4 validation due to resampling, is expected to retain the largest shipment share thanks to its established partnership with NVIDIA. Counterpoint Research projects SK Hynix will hold about 54% of the HBM4 market in 2026, with Samsung at 28% and Micron around 18%.
Structural Signals and Potential Risks
Some market analysts see SK Hynix overtaking Samsung in market cap as a structural signal. However, it’s important to also consider the potential risks.
Supply-side catch-up effect. The high profitability of the HBM market is prompting all three major players to accelerate capacity expansion. Samsung’s catch-up in both capacity and validation progress is already visible. As HBM4 mass production ramps up, the days of a single supplier commanding high premiums are coming to an end.
Potential for technological substitution. AI chipmakers like NVIDIA are investing in custom chip development, which could reduce reliance on external HBM to some extent. While this substitution effect is limited in the short term, it may impact HBM demand elasticity over the long run.
Valuation overshoot. As of July 6, 2026 (KST), SK Hynix shares closed at KRW 2,468,000, up 1.77% on the day. UBS raised its 12-month target price for SK Hynix from KRW 3,000,000 to KRW 3,200,000 in a July 6 research note, maintaining a "Buy" rating. However, some institutions have flagged SK Hynix’s market cap surpassing Samsung as a potential "bull market top signal"—when market consensus is highly aligned, any slowdown in HBM demand could trigger significant downside risk.
Geopolitical factors. Geopolitical tensions in the semiconductor supply chain remain a systemic risk hanging over the industry.
Conclusion
SK Hynix’s roughly 700% share price surge over the past year was not the result of speculative mania for a single company, but rather a pricing signal of the structural reshaping of the semiconductor industry driven by AI computing power demand. From AI customer structure to the explosive growth in HBM demand, from supply chain positioning to shifts in industry leadership, the logic chain of this transformation is clear and verifiable.
HBM has evolved from a DRAM subcategory into a core strategic asset for AI infrastructure. In this process, SK Hynix leveraged its first-mover advantage and strong customer ties to become a key node in the supply chains of AI giants like NVIDIA and Google. Samsung and Micron’s pursuit shows that the competition in this market is far from over—the three-way battle for market share is redefining the global semiconductor power map.
For observers, SK Hynix’s story offers a microcosm for understanding the transformation of the AI industry: when a foundational technology becomes the bottleneck for AI computing power, companies that master it gain above-average value allocation in the structural reshaping of the industry. The sustainability of this value allocation ultimately depends on the strength of technological barriers and the direction of competitive dynamics.
FAQ
Q1: What is the core driver behind SK Hynix’s 700% share price surge?
The primary driver is the explosive growth in HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) demand fueled by AI computing needs. As the core HBM supplier to AI customers like NVIDIA and Google, SK Hynix leveraged its technological lead and deep customer integration to capture about 58% of the HBM market, achieving exponential revenue and profit growth.
Q2: What are the main differences between HBM4 and the previous generation HBM3E?
The key advancements in HBM4 include increased I/O width, higher stack layers, further expanded bandwidth and capacity, and greater complexity in advanced packaging integration with GPUs. HBM4 has already entered mass production, with large-scale shipments expected to begin in the second half of 2026.
Q3: What is the significance of SK Hynix surpassing Samsung in market capitalization?
This is the first time since 2000 that SK Hynix has overtaken Samsung Electronics in market cap. It reflects the capital market’s strong recognition of the value of AI memory business and marks a shift in the memory chip industry’s competitive logic from "scale first" to "technological density and supply chain position first."
Q4: What is the current supply-demand situation in the HBM market?
The HBM market is currently experiencing severe undersupply. All HBM capacity from the three major suppliers for 2026 has already been fully booked by customers, and the market has shifted entirely to a seller’s market. SK Hynix previously stated that its HBM capacity constraints are expected to persist through 2030.
