SK Hynix's Market Cap Surge Narrows Samsung Gap to Historic Low as HBM4E Samples Fuel AI Dominance
20.06.2026 - 03:23:58 | boerse-global.de
The gap between South Korea's two semiconductor titans has shrunk to a level never seen before. On Friday, SK Hynix's stock closed at 2,764,000 won, adding nearly three percent on the day and briefly pushing its market capitalisation above the 2,000 trillion won threshold for the first time. Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics slid 2.34 percent to 354,000 won, leaving the valuation chasm at just 99.67 trillion won — the first time it has dipped below the 100-trillion-won mark. The divergence reflects a market that is increasingly rewarding the company most tightly tethered to the artificial intelligence boom.
SK Hynix has long been viewed primarily as a high-bandwidth memory (HBM) supplier for Nvidia's accelerators, but the firm is now pitching a much broader data-centre narrative. At the HPE Discover conference in Las Vegas, the memory giant showcased a raft of certified products already embedded in Hewlett Packard Enterprise servers — including CMM-DDR5, server DRAM, and enterprise SSDs built on 176-layer NAND technology. The message is clear: SK Hynix wants to be a one-stop infrastructure partner, not merely a component vendor.
The most immediate catalyst, however, remains the accelerated rollout of its next-generation HBM. SK Hynix has begun shipping samples of 12-layer HBM4E — the seventh generation of its high-bandwidth memory — to major customers ahead of schedule. Each stack delivers 48 GB of capacity with roughly 4 TB/s of bandwidth, representing a performance leap of up to 50 percent over the previous HBM4 generation. Energy efficiency improves by 20 percent, while thermal resistance drops 17 percent. The chips are designed for the next wave of high-performance AI processors, including Nvidia's Rubin Ultra and AMD's MI500 series. With a 58 percent share of the global HBM market, SK Hynix is moving early to lock in its lead.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying SK Hynix?
The market has responded with ferocity. Over the past week alone, the stock surged 28.56 percent, adding to a year-to-date gain of 308.27 percent. On Friday, the intraday high touched 2,891,000 won — a fresh 52-week peak — before closing at 2,764,000 won. Yet the rally has pushed technical indicators into extreme territory. The relative strength index stands at 73.5, firmly in overbought territory, and the stock now trades a full 59 percent above its 50-day moving average — currently at 1,738,380 won. Volatility remains elevated at nearly 96 percent, suggesting any shift in momentum could trigger a sharp pullback.
Fundamentally, expectations are stratospheric. KB Securities estimates that SK Hynix will post an operating profit of roughly 69 trillion won in the second quarter, a staggering 649 percent increase year over year. The broader memory market is also expected to swell, with analysts forecasting the global segment will quadruple to 1,500 trillion won by the end of 2026. For the first time, server and AI memory demand is projected to outstrip the combined demand from PCs and smartphones, with server memory alone claiming a 56 percent share of the total market.
In a separate move that underscores the strategic importance of advanced packaging and integration, Intel has poached former SK Hynix chief Seok-Hee Lee as executive vice president for its foundry business. Lee will oversee advanced packaging and system integration — a clear sign that the battle for next-generation chip architecture is intensifying on multiple fronts.
For now, SK Hynix must prove that its broader data-centre portfolio can sustain the revenue momentum that has lifted its shares into the stratosphere. If the rally cools, the 50-day moving average offers a massive support floor. But with sample shipments already in customers' hands and the AI infrastructure buildout accelerating, the company has positioned itself to defend its newfound valuation — and perhaps close the gap with Samsung entirely.
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