Memory chip frenzy sends SK Hynix, Micron into US$1 trillion club

SEOUL: The breakneck surge in memory-chip stocks is intensifying, sending the market capitalisations of SK Hynix and Micron Technology above US$1 trillion for the first time, as investors bet the AI boom will lead to a sustained revaluation of the industry.

SK Hynix rose as much as 13% in South Korea on Wednesday, taking its 12-month gain to more than 1,000% and becoming the third Asian company to join the US$1 trillion club after rival memory-chip maker Samsung Electronics earlier this month. Micron soared 19% on Tuesday, the most since 2011, after a UBS Group AG analyst said the stock may double over the next year.

The three leading makers of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) now sit at the chokepoint of the global AI buildout, with their products forming a critical bottleneck for data-center expansion. Investors and analysts expect memory shortages to last through 2027, giving them unusual pricing power over the world’s largest technology companies.

“Memory chipmakers have been irrationally undervalued, but we are now seeing the trend of recovery in their valuation gap,” said Kang DaeKwun, chief investment officer at Life Asset Management in Seoul. “We are still at the early stage of the rally.”

In the fourth quarter of 2025, SK Hynix controlled 57% of global HBM market share by revenue, Counterpoint Research’s data show. Samsung and Micron followed with 22% and 21%, respectively.

Fuelled by gains in SK Hynix and Samsung, Korea’s Kospi index jumped as much as 5% on Wednesday, prompting the Korea Exchange to briefly halt program buying. The surge echoed a chipmaker-driven rally on Wall Street overnight and broader advances across Asian equities.

In April, SK Hynix reported a five-fold jump in quarterly profit, while anticipating that HBM demand will exceed supply in the next three years.

Meanwhile, the company has filed to list American depositary receipts this year. If the plan pans out, it would rank among the biggest New York debuts by a foreign company, giving American investors another way to play the AI memory trade.

A potential listing in the US will act as a catalyst, Barclays analysts including Simon Coles wrote in a note earlier this month. The Korean company will also continue to benefit from favorable product pricing, with supply tightness to continue.

“We expect SK Hynix to remain the leader” in high-bandwidth memory, they wrote.

Even with their rapid ascent this year, SK Hynix shares trade at about seven times one-year forward earnings, compared with 27 times for the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.

“Judging by earnings power alone, it’s difficult to predict a near-term peak,” said Cha So-Yoon, an equity investment manager at Taurus Asset Management in Seoul. “Even if investors don’t assign Big Tech-style multiples of 20 times, many are eyeing up to 10 times earnings as a near-term upside.”

New ETFs

Despite the euphoria, some analysts are concerned that the surge may not prove to be durable. The rally is built on the assumption that earnings will increase at an astronomical pace, and any easing of supply bottlenecks or slowdown in AI capital expenditure could lead to reversals.

The local debut of single‑stock leveraged ETFs tied to Samsung and SK Hynix also adds risks, potentially fanning more volatility in a market that is already running hot. More than a dozen such products that can amplify gains as well as losses started trading on the Korea Exchange on Wednesday.

One SK Hynix ETF, designed to deliver twice the performance of the underlying stock, jumped 24% in early trading, while a Samsung ETF surged 15%, according to exchange data.

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