The artificial intelligence boom has created two new members of the exclusive trillion-dollar valuation club, as chipmakers SK Hynix and Micron both surpassed the $1 trillion mark on the back of surging demand for AI infrastructure.
Two Companies, Two Milestones
Shares in South Korea’s SK Hynix — a key supplier to AI chip powerhouse Nvidia — jumped 10% on Wednesday, extending a rally that has seen the company’s stock price climb more than threefold since the beginning of this year. Across the Pacific, US memory chipmaker Micron experienced an even more dramatic single-day surge, with its shares rising nearly 20% on Tuesday after investment bank UBS tripled its price target for the stock.
The twin milestones add two more names to a rapidly expanding group of companies valued above $1 trillion, which already includes some of the most recognizable names in global technology: Nvidia, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, and Meta.
AI Data Centres Are Driving the Boom
The engine behind both companies’ ascent is the same force reshaping much of the global technology industry — an enormous and accelerating appetite for advanced computer chips capable of powering AI tools and the data centres that run them. That surge in demand has triggered a worldwide shortage of memory chips, pushing up revenues and profits for manufacturers like SK Hynix and Micron, who are racing to keep pace with orders they can barely fill.
Asia’s Tech Giants Are Joining the Club
The latest milestones are part of a broader trend of Asian semiconductor companies ascending to elite valuation territory. Earlier in May, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics — widely known for its consumer electronics but also a major semiconductor manufacturer with Nvidia among its customers — became only the second Asian company to join the $1 trillion club, following Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC. Samsung’s valuation now stands at approximately $1.34 trillion, with its shares having more than doubled since the start of the year.
Samsung received additional good news on Wednesday, with its shares jumping over 6% after union members voted to accept a pay deal, averting a strike that had threatened to disrupt operations. South Korea’s benchmark Kospi stock index, heavily weighted toward technology firms, also hit a fresh record high amid the broader rally.
Nvidia Leads the Pack
No company has benefited more from the AI spending spree than Nvidia, which in October became the first company in history to reach a stock market valuation of $5 trillion and continues to post record-breaking sales. Microsoft and Apple have each recently crossed the $4 trillion mark as well, underscoring just how dramatically AI enthusiasm has inflated valuations across the sector.
But Caution Is Growing
Not everyone is celebrating. Some investors have begun questioning whether these towering valuations are sustainable, raising the possibility that the AI sector may be developing into a bubble. Concerns about rising competition in the chip space have also begun to surface, with analysts watching closely to see whether Nvidia and its peers can maintain their commanding positions as new rivals enter the market.
For now, however, the numbers tell a story of extraordinary momentum — and for SK Hynix and Micron, a long climb into some very rarefied air.