SK hynix has closed in to 95% of Samsung Electronics' common stock market capitalization, narrowing the gap between the two to the smallest on record. Riding the expansion of the artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor market, SK hynix's steep growth is shaking up the market-cap hierarchy that has been firmly centered on Samsung Electronics for about 27 years since 2000.
According to the Korea Exchange (KRX) on the 22nd, as of the close on the 19th, the market capitalization of Samsung Electronics (005930) stood at 2,069 trillion won and SK hynix (000660) at 1,969 trillion won. SK hynix's market cap was 95.17% of Samsung Electronics' common stock market cap, surpassing the previous high of 93.17% on May 28. In intraday trading, the market cap climbed to as high as 2,051 trillion won at one point, narrowing the gap even further.
Even including Samsung Electronics' preferred shares, the gap has shrunk significantly. SK hynix's ratio to the combined market capitalization of Samsung Electronics' common and preferred shares came to 87.63%. That far exceeds the 10-year average of 22%.
Samsung Electronics has held the No. 1 spot in domestic market capitalization since 2000. In the 1990s, Korea Electric Power Corporation maintained the top rank for a long period, and in 1999, KT took the lead. Samsung Electronics stayed in third place in market cap at the time, behind Korea Electric Power Corporation and POSCO, but quickly expanded in size to seize the throne of the domestic market from 2000. It has not yielded the top spot even once for about 27 years since.
The gap between the two is narrowing rapidly along with growth in the AI Semiconductor market. While Samsung Electronics' share price jumped about 498% from 59,800 won a year ago to 354,000 won at the most recent close, SK hynix soared 1,024% over the same period.
The market sees the first-mover advantage in the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) market as decisive. SK hynix has established itself as a key supplier to Nvidia, directly benefiting from increased investment in AI infrastructure. By contrast, Samsung Electronics has a broad business portfolio beyond semiconductors, including smartphones, appliances, and displays, leading to a prevailing view that the benefits of the AI memory boom are relatively dispersed.
Park Sang-hyun, an analyst at iM Securities, said, "While Samsung Electronics has a diverse business portfolio, SK hynix's focus on semiconductors had an impact," adding, "With strong expectations for a continued super-boom cycle in semiconductor exports, the market-cap race between the two will become even fiercer going forward."
SK hynix's push to list American depository receipts (ADR) is also strongly boosting investor sentiment. The securities industry says that if an ADR listing materializes, not only will overseas investor access improve significantly, but the door could open to inclusion in global semiconductor indexes over the long term, providing a springboard for SK hynix's valuation to take another leap.
Lee Jae-won, an analyst at Yuanta Securities Korea, said, "Since Black Monday on the 8th, SK hynix's relative strength has stood out during the process of index normalization," adding, "If an ADR listing happens as early as July, not only will overseas investor access improve, but there could also be expectations for inclusion in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index over the long term."
What is notable is that even as SK hynix closes in, Samsung Electronics is also hitting an all-time high in corporate value. Early this month, Samsung Electronics became the first domestically listed company to surpass 2,000 trillion won in market capitalization and again overtook Bitcoin in the global asset rankings. The gap is narrowing, but Samsung Electronics is also expanding quickly on expectations of benefits from AI Semiconductor.
According to the market-cap aggregation site CompaniesMarketCap, as of the 19th Samsung Electronics' market capitalization stood at about $1.522 trillion, ranking 12th in the global asset rankings. Bitcoin was about $1.276 trillion, in 15th place. The gap in market capitalization between the two sides is about $246 billion. SK hynix, with a market capitalization of about $1.248 trillion, ranked 16th in the global asset rankings, closing in on Bitcoin.