[Edaily Reporter Kwon Oh-seok] The landscape of the KOSPI market capitalization has shifted significantly this year. While Samsung Group affiliates have climbed the rankings in droves, riding the wave of AI (artificial intelligence) growth, secondary battery and shipbuilding stocks—which dominated the market last year—have lost ground.

According to MP Doctor on the 7th, as of the 5th of this month, the rankings of seven out of the top 10 KOSPI stocks by market capitalization (excluding preferred shares) have changed since the end of last year. Only #Samsung Electronics (1st), #SK Hynix (2nd), and #KB Financial (10th) maintained their positions. This means the rankings of the remaining seven stocks have shifted in less than half a year.
The stock that saw the biggest jump in ranking was Samsung Electro-Mechanics. Having ranked 34th at the end of last year, the stock soared to 5th place this month, climbing a staggering 29 spots. During the same period, its market capitalization swelled approximately sevenfold, from the 19 trillion won range to the 131 trillion won range. This is the result of explosive growth in earnings expectations as the demand and prices for MLCCs (multi-layer ceramic capacitors)—a key component—rose in tandem with the proliferation of AI servers. Its stock price has surged by 589% this year alone.
Samsung Life Insurance also succeeded in breaking into the top 10. Its ranking, which stood at 18th at the end of last year, climbed 11 spots to 7th this month. The surge in Samsung Electronics’ stock price served as the catalyst. As the asset value of Samsung Life Insurance—which holds a large stake in Samsung Electronics—was revalued, its stock price jumped 162% compared to the start of the year.
Samsung C&T followed a similar trajectory. It rose five spots from 13th to 8th, with a stock price increase of 92% this year. It appears that these two stocks, which serve as the holding companies of the Samsung Group, have fully reaped the benefits of Samsung Electronics’ rise.
#SK Square, the largest shareholder of SK Hynix, also jumped from 7th to 3rd place. This was driven by the rise in the value of its stake following SK Hynix’s soaring stock price. Hyundai Motor moved up one spot from 5th to 4th place as expectations for AI cooperation were highlighted following the visit to South Korea by Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA.
In contrast, secondary battery and shipbuilding stocks, which ranked among the top market cap holders last year, have fallen one after another. #LG Energy Solution, a secondary battery stock, slipped from 3rd place at the end of last year to 6th this month. #HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, a leading shipbuilding stock, also dropped three spots from 6th to 9th.
Some stocks have even fallen completely out of the top 10. Samsung Biologics, which ranked 4th at the end of last year, plummeted to 13th this month. Defense stocks Hanwha Aerospace (8th → 15th) and Doosan Enerbility (9th → 14th) also dropped out of the top 10.