Three memory chipmakers now rank among the world's most valuable companies
Three memory chipmakers now sit in the trillion-dollar club and analysts say the rally is not over yet.
SK Hynix joined Samsung Electronics and Micron Technology in crossing the US$1tn market capitalisation threshold within a 24-hour window this week.
AI-driven demand for high-bandwidth memory chips continued to rewrite valuations across the semiconductor sector.
Over the past 12 months, SK Hynix, Micron, and Samsung shares have risen 1,007 percent, 859 percent, and 469 percent respectively, far outpacing Nvidia's 58 percent gain over the same period, the Financial Times reported.
CNBC reported SK Hynix shares closed 9.21 percent higher on Wednesday after jumping as much as 11 percent during the session.
A day earlier, Micron briefly topped US$1tn after UBS more than tripled its price target on the stock to US$1,625 from US$535, the highest among 46 brokerages covering the company, Reuters reported, citing LSEG data.
Shares rose as much as 19.3 percent on the news.
The rotation driving these gains signals a meaningful shift in how investors are positioning within the AI trade.
After initially concentrating in graphics processor makers, investors have moved into memory and storage suppliers, Reuters noted.
UBS said there was "no reason" Micron should trade much differently from Nvidia on a price-to-earnings basis, as long-term supply agreements and AI-driven demand reshape the company's earnings profile.
Micron currently trades at 8.42 times expected earnings over the next 12 months, compared with 22.15 for the S&P 500 and 26.23 for the Nasdaq 100.
SK Hynix, Micron, and Samsung are the principal manufacturers of high-bandwidth memory chips required to run Nvidia's most powerful AI processors, the FT noted, placing all three in a position to raise prices as demand outstrips supply.
According to Reuters, Micron has said its entire 2026 HBM supply is already sold out, and its next-generation HBM4 chips are now in production.
Mizuho analysts said Micron may be able to double HBM4 chip prices next year, according to the FT.
Demand for memory is widely expected to continue outstripping supply until at least next year, with some analysts projecting shortages could persist until late in the decade.
Peter Kim, global investment strategist at KB Financial Group, told CNBC the rally may still have room to run, noting that earnings upgrades are outpacing share price gains.
"Fundamentals and valuations of the two twin towers … are still very much intact," Kim said, referring to SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, adding that SK Hynix's valuation has become "cheaper" as analysts raise earnings forecasts faster than share prices increase.
SK Hynix is on track to more than quadruple EBITDA to US$174bn this year, per Visible Alpha, as cited by Reuters.
The gains carry concentration risk for South Korea's broader equity market.
Samsung and SK Hynix together account for more than 40 percent of the benchmark Kospi index, CNBC reported, while the technology sector accounts for 73 percent of the country's forward aggregate earnings, according to BNP Paribas analysts cited by Reuters.
The Kospi has nearly doubled since the start of the year, per LSEG data.
Margin loan balances have risen by nearly a third to over US$20bn since January, according to the Korea Financial Investment Association.
Assets under management of leveraged ETFs have climbed to US$30bn, significantly higher as a share of free-float market capitalisation than in Taiwan, Japan, or Hong Kong, Goldman Sachs Research strategist Alvin So told Reuters.
Bloomberg reported more than a dozen single-stock leveraged ETFs linked to Samsung or SK Hynix are set to debut this week and may attract as much as US$3.5bn in net inflows.
"The heat has returned to the tech market overnight … as memory chip fever continues," Deutsche Bank analysts wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday, as cited by the FT.
SK Hynix is the 16th company to reach a US$1tn valuation, eight years after Apple first hit the milestone.
SpaceX's expected IPO next month could bring the tally to 17, with Elon Musk's rocket company projected to be valued at upwards of US$1.75tn.
OpenAI and Anthropic are both nearing trillion-dollar valuations on private markets.
