AI chip boom pushes SK Hynix past Samsung to become South Korea’s most valuable company - Cybernews

SK Hynix's rise to become South Korea's most valuable company, surpassing Samsung, demonstrates the significant shift in the semiconductor industry toward AI chip technology. This transformation refle... Read original →

SK Hynix overtaking Samsung in market cap reflects AI infrastructure’s reshaping of memory architecture. Surging HBM3E/HBM4 demand has turned DRAM from a commodity into a performance bottleneck, directly boosting orders for TSV packaging tools and photoresists while forcing EDA vendors to enhance 3D stacking simulation. Geopolitically, U.S. export controls on advanced equipment now target HBM supply chains, compelling SK Hynix to localize back-end operations in Korea and China—raising capex by over 15%. Samsung will likely spin off its logic chip unit to refocus on memory and partner with foundries in Taiwan, China to develop CoWoS alternatives. NVIDIA may lock in SK Hynix capacity via IP cross-licensing. Within 18 months, the HBM bandwidth race will accelerate silicon photonics and near-memory computing, squeezing out DDR vendors that fail to specialize in AI-optimized solutions.