Samsung Electronics becomes Korea's first W2,000tr company

Samsung Electronics' market capitalization exceeded 2,000 trillion won ($1.32 trillion) for the first time Monday, marking a new milestone to cement its position as Korea's most valuable listed company and widening its gap with crosstown rival SK hynix.

Samsung opened trading at 318,000 won, up 0.31 percent from the previous session, before extending gains shortly to touch 354,500 won after the market opened. The stock closed up 10 percent 349,000 won, giving the company a market value of about 2,040 trillion won.

Samsung had already surpassed the 2,000 trillion won mark on Friday when preferred shares were included. Monday's move marked the first time its common shares alone crossed the threshold, making Samsung the first single stock on the Korean market to reach a valuation of more than 2,000 trillion won.

Globally, the rally has given Samsung the world's 11th highest valuation, surpassing Berkshire Hathaway's roughly $1.023 trillion and Micron Technology's $1.095 trillion.

Samsung said Monday it had become the first in the world to ship samples of 12-layer HBM4E, its seventh-generation high bandwidth memory product.

The chip is aimed at Nvidia's Vera Rubin Ultra, a next-generation AI accelerator expected in the second half of next year.

The market reaction put fresh distance between the valuations of Samsung and SK hynix, which had been closing in on the No. 1 spot on the strength of its lead in HBM. At the same time, SK hynix closed at 2.36 million won, up 1.29 percent, giving it a market capitalization of nearly 1,684 trillion won. That places SK hynix 12th globally by market capitalization, just behind Samsung.

Brokerages remain upbeat on both stocks. SK Securities raised its target price for Samsung to 610,000 won on Monday and lifted its target for SK hynix to 4 million won.

"Samsung Electronics remains significantly undervalued relative to its earnings power, given its stronger capacity headroom among the three major memory makers, full-fledged entry into the high bandwidth memory market and expanding foundry orders," said Han Dong-hee, an analyst at SK Securities.

Kim Young-gun, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities echoed the view, saying the current share price is "deeply undervalued."

Kim forecast Samsung to post 89 trillion won in operating profit for the second quarter and 371 trillion won for the full year, beating the latest market consensus of 88 trillion won and 358 trillion won.

Samsung's gains also helped drive the broader Kospi past the 8,800 mark, alongside a rally in Hyundai Motor, LG Electronics and other physical AI-related shares. The benchmark finished Monday at a record 8,788.38, up 312.23 points or 3.68 percent from the previous session.