SK Hynix and Micron Cross $1 Trillion Valuation on AI Chip Boom
BBC Business reported Tuesday that South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix and US memory giant Micron have each crossed a $1 trillion valuation, joining a short list of the world’s most valuable public companies. The milestone reflects an extraordinary surge in appetite for the specialised chips that underpin artificial intelligence infrastructure.
AI Data Centres Fuel a Historic Rally
SK Hynix shares climbed 10% on Wednesday alone, extending a run that has seen the stock more than triple in value since January. The company is a primary memory-chip supplier to Nvidia, which sits at the centre of the global AI buildout. Micron’s own ascent was catalysed a day earlier when investment bank UBS tripled its price target for the stock, sending shares up nearly 20% in a single session. Both moves reflect how tightly investor sentiment is now linked to the pace of AI infrastructure spending worldwide.
A Growing Club With Deep Roots in Silicon
The two chipmakers now share elite company. Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta all carry valuations north of $1 Trillion. Earlier this month, Samsung Electronics crossed the same threshold, becoming only the second Asian company to do so after Taiwanese foundry giant TSMC. Samsung, best known in consumer markets for its smartphones and televisions, is also a major semiconductor manufacturer with its own Nvidia supply relationship.
Memory Chip Shortage Tightens the Market
The backdrop to these valuations is a global memory chip shortage. Demand for high-bandwidth memory, used extensively in AI accelerators, has outpaced supply capacity for several consecutive quarters. That imbalance has lifted average selling prices, improved margins, and drawn fresh analyst attention to both SK Hynix and Micron as structural beneficiaries of the AI cycle. Industry watchers note that new fabrication capacity takes years to come online, meaning the supply constraint is unlikely to resolve quickly.
What Comes Next for Chipmakers
Investors will now watch whether these valuations hold as the broader AI investment cycle matures. Capital expenditure commitments from hyperscalers remain robust through 2026, lending support to near-term chip demand. Still, any softening in AI infrastructure spending or an easing of the memory shortage could test these freshly minted trillion-dollar price tags. For now, the market’s verdict is unambiguous: memory chips are the backbone of the AI economy.
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