SK Hynix has hit a major milestone,becoming the second South Korean firm to top a market valuation of $1 trillion. chipmaker's valuation reached about 1.66 quadrillion won ($1.10 trillion) on Friday, after its share price climbed nearly 2 percent. Demand for semiconductors, especially those for artificial intelligence, is driving this growth .
SK Hynix's stock surge mirrors a broader trend in South Korea,where the KOSPI index has doubled in value in 2026,largely thanks to an AI-driven rally. Since January, shares have skyrocketed by 240 percent, with more than 80 percent of that gain happening just this month. This growth matches that of rivals Micron and Samsung Electronics, both of which also recently crossed the trillion-dollar mark,spurred by a global shortage of DRAM and NAND memory chips.
In the first quarter of this year,SK Hynix reported an operating profit that soared fivefold from last year, totaling 37.6 trillion won ($24.9 billion). Revenue for that period reached 52.6 trillion won ($34.8 billion),a threefold increase year-on-year. These numbers show the company's strong position in the semiconductor market as demand for AI technologies keeps climbing.
Only 17 companies worldwide have hit a valuation of at least $1 trillion,mostly based in U.S. PetroChina was the first to reach this milestone in 2007,but it quickly lost value after global financial crisis. Other notable firms that have crossed this line include Apple, Amazon, Microsoft,and Alphabet.
Currently,SK Hynix is one of just four non-U.S . companies in this exclusive club, joining Samsung Electronics,Taiwan's TSMC,and Saudi Arabia's Saudi Aramco. The company’s rapid rise reflects its strategic position in key industry and growing global dependence on semiconductor technology,especially in expanding field of artificial intelligence.
