“SK Hynix”… from collapse to the most valuable company in South Korea | economy

SK Hynix has displaced its competitor, Samsung Electronics, from the top of the most valuable listed companies in South Korea, in a shift that reflects the increasing impact of the artificial intelligence boom on the semiconductor industry, and confirms the company’s success in moving from the brink of collapse two decades ago to the top of the sector globally.

SK Hynix has become the dominant supplier of high-bandwidth memory chips used in artificial intelligence systems for major companies such as NVIDIA and Google, making it one of the most prominent beneficiaries of the global wave of investment in this technology.

The company’s shares rose by more than 340% this year, raising its market value to levels exceeding that of Samsung Electronics and the American company Micron, and it also became the manufacturer of memory chips with the highest market value in the world.

SK Hynix shares rose by 5.7%, bringing its market value to 2,082.5 trillion won (about $1.353 trillion) by 03:47 GMT, while Samsung Electronics shares rose by 0.4%, bringing its market value to 2,081.3 trillion won (about $1.351 trillion), excluding preferred shares.

Samsung said in a statement that any calculation of its market value should include preferred shares, which would raise the company’s total value to about 2,252 trillion won (about 1.46 trillion dollars).

The nature of the two companies’ businesses differs, as SK Hynix mainly focuses on memory chips, while Samsung’s activities also include… Logic chips And consumer electronics, noting that Samsung has maintained its market leadership since 2000.

Radical change

A senior analyst at Meritz Securities said: Kim Sunwoo “The advent of dedicated AI memory has fundamentally changed the economics of the sector and allowed SK Hynix to consolidate its market leadership position.”

This achievement represents the culmination of an exceptional transformation in the history of the company, which in 2002 was almost sold to the American company Micron due to the accumulation of debt resulting from extensive expansion plans, before the deal faltered and the company remained under the control of creditors for nearly a decade.

In 2003, the company’s shares fell to just 135 won, making it among the cheapest stocks, before it later benefited from the recovery cycles in the global memory chip sector.

Despite recording an annual operating loss amounting to 7.73 trillion won (about 5.02 billion dollars) in 2023, due to the decline in chip prices, the company regained its momentum with the acceleration of global investments in artificial intelligence from companies such as Microsoft, Google, and Meta, to record record operating profits amounting to 23.5 trillion won (about 15.26 billion dollars) in 2024.

The rise of SK Hynix reflects the profound transformations taking place in the semiconductor industry, with artificial intelligence chips becoming a major driver of value and growth in the sector.