[Anchor]

Samsung Electronics has lost its position as the top company by market capitalization in Korea, a spot it had held for over 25 years. SK Hynix surged more than 5% on Monday (June 22) alone, swapping places with Samsung Electronics. Meanwhile, the KOSPI has once again hit an all-time high.

Reporter Kim Hye-min has the story.

[Reporter]

SK Hynix shares jumped 5.6% on Monday (June 22), bringing the price per share very close to 3 million won.

The company's market capitalization reached 2,080 trillion won.

This surpassed the 2,066 trillion won market cap of Samsung Electronics' common shares, which fell 0.14% on the same day.

It has been 25 years and 7 months since Samsung Electronics first took the top spot on the KOSPI in November 2000.

While Samsung Electronics' stock price has risen 2.75 times this year, SK Hynix has surged 4.31 times, leading to the change in rankings between the two companies.

Analysts suggest that while SK Hynix focuses exclusively on semiconductors, Samsung Electronics operates a diverse range of businesses, including mobile and home appliances, allowing SK Hynix to more fully capture the benefits of the semiconductor boom.

[Kim Dong-won / Head of Research, KB Securities: SK Hynix is a pure-play memory manufacturer. Its performance and stock price tend to be more sensitive and reactive than those of Samsung Electronics.]

However, since Samsung Electronics also trades non-voting preferred shares, its total market capitalization remains 168 trillion won higher than that of SK Hynix.

[Professor Seo Ji-yong / Department of Business Administration, Sangmyung University: In textbook definitions, it is more accurate to combine both common and preferred shares when looking at the market value of capital. However, from the perspective of general investor interest, it is common to look at the price of common shares.]

On Monday (June 22), the KOSPI rose 62 points, surpassing the 9,100-point mark for the first time at closing.

Ongoing negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, combined with a 188% surge in semiconductor exports through the 20th of this month compared to the same period last year, have continued to boost investor sentiment.

The strength of semiconductor companies is a global trend.

In Japan, the top company by market cap recently shifted from the global automaker Toyota to Kioxia, a NAND flash memory manufacturer.

Analysts say that amid the AI boom, the landscape of global stock markets is rapidly shifting to center around semiconductor companies.

Reported by Kim Hye-min | Video by Kim Hak-mo | Video Editing by Kim Jun-hee | Graphics by Seo Seung-hyun