Samsung Electronics crossed the $1 trillion market capitalisation mark after a sharp rally in semiconductor stocks tied to rising AI demand. The South Korean chipmaker’s valuation crossed 1,717 trillion won (~$1.03 trillion) during trading in Seoul, making it only the second Asian company, after TSMC (in July last year), to reach the milestone.
Samsung shares have risen nearly 15% since and touched 267,250 won (~$181.90). The rally followed gains in US AI-linked chip stocks and strong investor interest in memory and high-bandwidth memory suppliers.
The surge also pushed South Korea’s KOSPI index above the 7,000 mark for the first time. Samsung and semiconductor firm SK Hynix together accounted for a large share of the index’s gains. SK Hynix’s market capitalisation currently stands at 1,142.82 trillion won (~$780 billion).
Samsung’s recent gains reflected wider investor confidence in AI-linked semiconductor firms. Samsung’s stock has more than doubled this year as demand for memory chips and AI accelerators continued to rise globally.
Among other semiconductor firms, Broadcom has a market capitalisation of $2.02 trillion, while AMD stands at nearly $579 billion. Micron Technology is valued at about $722 billion, and Xiaomi’s market capitalisation is 80,064.67 crore HKD (~$102 billion).
Reports have linked Samsung’s rise to strong AI infrastructure spending and demand for high-bandwidth memory chips, and Reuters reported that Samsung’s semiconductor business posted record quarterly profit last week, driven largely by demand for AI memory.
Samsung had also expanded its AI and semiconductor roadmap in recent months. Earlier reports said the company planned to mass-produce silicon photonic chips by 2028 as it looked to improve AI data transfer efficiency. The company had also emerged as a possible manufacturing partner for Apple’s US chip production efforts alongside Intel.
Samsung also strengthened its position in the AI memory market after securing an HBM4 supply deal for AMD’s AI GPUs. AMD CEO Lisa Su had visited South Korea during discussions around the partnership.
Samsung now joins a small group of global technology firms valued at over $1 trillion. NVIDIA remains the world’s most valuable chip company with a market capitalisation that hit $5 trillion late last year, making it the first company ever to achieve that feat.
Microsoft’s market capitalisation stands at $3.06 trillion, while Apple and Alphabet are valued at $4.17 trillion and $4.69 trillion, respectively. Amazon holds a valuation of $2.94 trillion, ahead of Meta Platforms at $1.54 trillion and Tesla at $1.22 trillion.
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