Shares of South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix surged as much as 11% on Wednesday, pushing the company’s market value above $1 trillion as investor interest in artificial intelligence-related semiconductor stocks continued to grow.
The company’s stock has been on a massive rally this year, climbing around 250% since the start of 2026. The jump has been fueled by soaring demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, which are heavily used in AI servers and advanced computing systems.
SK Hynix has become one of the key suppliers to NVIDIA, placing it at the center of the fast-growing global AI supply chain.
The strong performance also comes shortly after rival Samsung Electronics crossed the $1 trillion market value mark as its shares gained more than 6% during the same trading session.
Together, SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics now make up more than 40% of South Korea’s Kospi index, showing how heavily the country’s stock market depends on the global demand for AI chips and memory semiconductors.
According to market data, the Kospi index has nearly doubled since the beginning of the year, mainly driven by strong gains in technology and semiconductor companies.
Still, some analysts warned that relying too heavily on tech stocks could increase market volatility. Any slowdown in AI investment, supply chain issues, or weaker demand for data centers could quickly impact the broader market.
Investment strategist Peter Kim said the rally in SK Hynix shares could continue because the company’s profits are growing even faster than its stock price. He added that both SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics still have strong financial fundamentals and attractive valuations despite their huge gains.
