[Edaily Reporter Kwon Oh Seok ] Shinhan Investment Securities released a report on the 23rd analyzing that SK hynix(000660)has surpassed the market capitalization of SamsungElectronics(005930)’s common stock, stating, “The essence of this reversal lies not in a change in market size but in the shift of the AI (artificial intelligence) memory bottleneck premium.”

Noh Dong-gil, an analyst at Shinhan Investment Securities, explained, “Rather than viewing this as SK hynix surpassing SamsungElectronics in terms of profit scale, it should be seen as a result of the market beginning to place a higher value on the sustainability of capital efficiency generated through HBM (High Bandwidth Memory).” He added, “SamsungElectronics has long been the flagship company of the Korean stock market. That is why it is difficult to view SK hynix’s surpassing of its common stock market cap as a mere change in ranking.”
Based on the previous day’s closing prices, SK hynix’s market capitalization stood at approximately 2,080 trillion won, surpassing that of SamsungElectronics (approximately 2,066 trillion won). This marks the first time in 25 years and 7 months that the top spot in market capitalization has changed hands. However, when preferred shares are included, SamsungElectronics still holds the lead. SK hynix does not issue preferred shares.
Researcher Noh stated, “As of the 22nd, SamsungElectronics’ common stock was valued at 2,066.7 trillion won and its preferred stock at 179.7 trillion won, for a combined total of 2,246.4 trillion won, while SK hynix stood at 2,080.4 trillion won. Based on common stock alone, SK hynix leads by 0.7%, but in terms of total market capitalization including preferred stock, SamsungElectronics is still 8.0% larger.”
He added, “Price discovery occurs in common stock. Foreign investors, institutions, passive funds, and active funds all compare the two companies’ common shares, and the fact that the focus of the ‘representative premium’ has shifted in this arena is significant,” he said, emphasizing, “The previous premium was attributed to SamsungElectronics’ comprehensive platform, which spans memory, foundry, mobile, home appliances, and system semiconductors. In contrast, SK hynix’s premium is tied to the narrow but highly profitable AI memory bottleneck.”
He added, “The criteria for representativeness have shifted from profit scale and comprehensiveness to capital efficiency and control over bottleneck markets. SK hynix’s rise to the top in market capitalization can be defined not as a change in the leading company, but as an event marking a shift in the criteria for the ‘number one’ premium.”