SK Hynix enters the trillion-dollar club, fueled by orders for Nvidia's HBM4.

      On Wednesday, a surge of over 10% in Seoul trading pushed SK Hynix's market valuation past $1 trillion, making it the third chipmaker to achieve this milestone, following Nvidia and TSMC. The Korean memory company’s market capitalisation surpassed $1 trillion during Wednesday morning trading, fueled by a single-session rally that briefly activated circuit breakers on South Korea's Kospi index.

      This achievement makes SK Hynix the third chip manufacturer in history to cross the trillion-dollar threshold, becoming the first specialized memory company to do so. This milestone coincides with a period that, by any standard, has appeared structurally unlikely. Over the past 24 months, SK Hynix's share price has increased by about 900%. Just last month, the firm was approximately $50 billion short of the trillion-dollar mark; this closing distance illustrates the impact of the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) cycle on the company’s financials. Full-year 2026 HBM capacity is sold out, with shortages expected to continue through 2027.

      The main support for SK Hynix is its role in Nvidia’s supply chain. UBS estimates the company accounts for nearly 70% of HBM4 orders for Nvidia's Vera Rubin platform, which Jensen Huang referred to in Taipei this week as “probably the largest product launch in the history of Taiwan.” Each Rubin unit requires 288GB of HBM4 across eight stacks, resulting in a system rated at 22 TB/s of bandwidth. The financial implications for SK Hynix are significant: HBM4 stacks fetch prices considerably higher than conventional DRAM, and Nvidia’s Rubin order book consists of hundreds of thousands of units.

      The competitive landscape is also relatively favorable for SK Hynix. Samsung, the largest memory manufacturer globally, has been visibly lagging in HBM4 qualification and is facing an industrial relations dispute that has slowed its production ramp. Micron, the third key player in the global memory market, has garnered a smaller portion of the Rubin design contracts and a lesser share of the overall HBM market. Currently, SK Hynix is the sought-after supplier.

      Achieving this market cap milestone coincides with SK Hynix’s serious consideration of a dual listing in the U.S., which could potentially raise approximately $14 billion based on current discussions. Reaching the trillion-dollar mark enhances the pricing power for that listing and provides Seoul’s capital markets authorities with a domestic flagship narrative that they are unlikely to weaken. The future direction of the dual-listing remains a key point to monitor.

      A tougher question relates to the sustainability of this growth. The memory industry is known for its cyclical nature, and the current upswing seems to be priced as though it will be permanent. SK Hynix's capacity expansion, including the $13 billion P&T7 HBM packaging facility, is planned to cater to sustained demand through the latter half of the decade. If the projected demand for Nvidia's Rubin Ultra materializes, the trillion-dollar mark will be maintained. Conversely, if it does not, history suggests that memory stocks often relinquish substantial gains rapidly.

      On Wednesday, SK Hynix shares ultimately closed up 9.8% after reaching an intraday rise of 15%.