In Korea's stock market, SK hynix, and in the U.S. stock market, Micron Technology (MU; Micron), have seen their share prices jump, sending the two companies' market capitalizations seesawing. As concerns about an artificial intelligence (AI) bubble have eased, investment money has rushed into semiconductor stocks worldwide. One of the biggest variables that could affect the two companies' share prices is whether Samsung Electronics will regain influence in the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) market, a core component for AI chips.
SK hynix shares were trading at 326,000 won on the KOSPI market at 10:15 a.m. on the 12th. The stock rose 6.2% (19,000 won) from the previous day, setting a new all-time high. Investor sentiment was buoyed by the announcement that SK hynix had completed development of the world's first sixth-generation HBM, "HBM4," and established a mass-production system.
Overnight, Micron shares also rose 7.55% ($10.57). Intraday, the stock jumped to $156.26, nearing the all-time high of $157.54 set in June last year.
As of the previous day's close, Micron Technology's market capitalization was $68.5 billion. Applying the won-dollar exchange rate, that comes to about 233.7 trillion won. It surpassed SK hynix's previous day market cap of 223.5 trillion won by more than 10 trillion won. Just a day earlier, SK hynix's market cap was about 420 billion won larger. As SK hynix's market cap topped 236 trillion won intraday that day, it is ahead again.
At the beginning of the year, Micron's market capitalization exceeded SK hynix's by more than 25 trillion won. While the won-dollar exchange rate had surged, the bigger factor was SK hynix's weak share price on expectations that the semiconductor cycle was entering a downturn.
However, as SK hynix emerged in the HBM market, a core component for AI chips, the mood shifted. SK hynix repeatedly broke its all-time quarterly earnings records and took the No. 1 spot in DRAM market share (by revenue) in the first and second quarters this year, pushing aside Samsung Electronics.
With SK hynix's share price surging, it began competing with Micron in market capitalization in March, and has held the upper hand since June. But as the domestic stock market corrected in Aug., it has turned into a tight race again.
The market is seeing positive prospects for the semiconductor industry. As AI shifts from training to inference, demand is expected to surge not only for HBM but also for eSSD (enterprise solid-state drive) built on NAND flash. The DRAM market is also showing a clear recovery as demand increases, centered on data centers.
Citi Group raised its target price for Micron the previous day to $175 from $150 largely on the view that supply of DRAM and NAND flash memory is tightening, giving semiconductor corporations pricing power.
The biggest variable for the run by SK hynix and Micron is whether Samsung Electronics can supply HBM4 to Nvidia. If Samsung Electronics joins the supply chain, profits are likely to shrink relatively. Samsung Electronics has currently cleared internal mass-production approval for HBM4 and is preparing sample production for supply talks with customers.