Samsung Electronics crossed a $1 trillion market value, making it only the second Asian company after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, also known as TSMC, to reach the milestone, reports CNBC.
Shares in the South Korean chipmaker climbed as much as 15% in Seoul trading, their largest single-day gain on record, pushing Samsung’s market value to 1,500 trillion won, which is $1.03 trillion.
The rally came after Samsung reported very strong first-quarter results last week. Operating profit rose more than eight times from a year earlier to 57.2 trillion won, while revenue reached a record 133.9 trillion won, according to the same report.
Samsung has been trying to catch up with SK Hynix in the fast-growing market. In February, Samsung became the first company to begin mass-producing HBM4 chips and ship them to customers. These chips are expected to play an important role in Nvidia’s next AI systems, which are being designed for heavy AI workloads in data centres.
Analysts attribute Samsung’s recent growth to high demand for AI memory, limited supply, and improved confidence in its new chip technology. Investor interest increased after Apple had discussed with Samsung and Intel making chips for its devices in the US, which could lessen Apple’s reliance on TSMC.
Samsung’s gains helped lift South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index above 7,000 for the first time, with shares in fellow chipmaker SK Hynix also climbing more than 10%.
