Samsung's brand value was assessed at $97.415 billion (about 145 trillion won) this year, ranking eighth among global technology brands. The brand value rose 8.9% from a year earlier, but the ranking fell by one spot.
According to the industry on the 19th, Samsung was the only Korean brand included in the top 10 of Technology 100 2026, which British brand valuation firm Brand Finance recently released. Last year, its brand value was $89.427 billion (about 133.1 trillion won), ranking seventh. Brand Finance analyzed that rising demand for advanced memory semiconductors and improved earnings prospects drove Samsung's brand value higher.
The drop in ranking was due to the surge of U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor corporations Nvidia. Nvidia climbed three spots from eighth last year to fifth this year. Its brand value increased 2.1 times, from $87.871 billion (about 130.8 trillion won) to $184.322 billion (about 274.4 trillion won). Brand Finance explained that as demand for advanced computing surged, Nvidia overtook previously top-ranked brands such as TikTok, Facebook, and Samsung.
The technology corporations with the highest brand value in the world was Apple, at $607.642 billion (about 904.5 trillion won), up 5.8% from a year earlier. Microsoft (MS), Google, and Amazon took second through fourth. They were followed by Nvidia, TikTok, Facebook, Samsung, Instagram, and Oracle.
In addition to Samsung, SK hynix, LG, Coupang, and Naver made the top 100 among Korean brands. SK hynix ranked 28th, up one spot, with a brand value of $15.8 billion (about 23.5 trillion won), a 15% increase.
LG ranked 44th, down eight spots, at $9.6 billion (about 14.3 trillion won), and Coupang, classified as a Korean corporations, ranked 49th, down one spot, at $8.8 billion (about 13.1 trillion won). Naver ranked 95th, up five spots, at $3.7 billion (about 5.5 trillion won). These five Korean brands were included in the top 100 for the second straight year.
The combined value of the five Korean brands was $135.3 billion (about 201.4 trillion won), up 8% from a year earlier. The total value of the world's top 100 technology brands was $3.7 trillion (about 5,507 trillion won), up 15% over the same period. The share accounted for by Korean brands in the total value was 3.7%, down 0.2 percentage points from a year earlier.
By country, the United States had the most brands with 46, followed by China with 25, Japan with 9, Korea with 5, and India with 4. The U.S. brands' share of value was 77.7%, down 0.2 percentage points from a year earlier. Japan also fell 0.2 percentage points to 1.9%, and India fell 0.3 percentage points to 1.4%.
Among the top 10 countries, China was the only one whose brand value share increased. Chinese brands' share was 12.6%, up 1.2 percentage points from a year earlier. The combined value of China's 25 brands was tallied at $464.9 billion (about 692 trillion won).
TikTok's brand value rose 45.1% from a year earlier to $153.5 billion (about 228.5 trillion won), ranking sixth in the world. Chinese battery maker CATL climbed four spots to 18th at $30.1 billion (about 44.8 trillion won), up 53%.