On February 3, Bloomberg reported that the combined market value of South Korea's two most valuable companies surpassed two Chinese technology giants for the first time on Tuesday, highlighting that the evolution of the global AI craze is reshaping the investment landscape in Asia's technology sector. In Tuesday's stock market trading, the combined market value of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix reached $1.11 trillion, slightly surpassing Alibaba Group and Tencent's $1.10 trillion. Alibaba and Tencent are two large mainland technology companies listed in Hong Kong.
Samsung and SK Hynix
This change reminds the outside world thatThe AI investment boom has shifted to infrastructure and benefited South Korean chipmakers, which are at the heart of the industrial supply chain.Alibaba and Tencent have long been regarded as symbols of the rise of Asia's technology. Currently, they mainly focus on e-commerce. Their involvement in AI is still in its early stages, and they are slightly less popular in the market.
Since the beginning of this year, Samsung Electronics’ stock price has risen by 34%, and SK Hynix has risen by about 37%. In comparison, Alibaba's Hong Kong stock rose by about 14%, while Tencent's stock price remained basically flat during the year.
Samsung SK Hynix's market value surpasses Alibaba and Tencent for the first time
The two South Korean companies are thriving because of their deep presence in the most advanced high-bandwidth memory chips that drive AI accelerators at companies like Nvidia. Their growth is driven by strong demand from large cloud computing service providers willing to pay a premium for cutting-edge technology. Currently, record shortages of DRAM and NAND memory chips further give them unprecedented pricing power.
but,There are certain risks in Korean chip manufacturers' over-reliance on the supply and demand cycle of memory chips, and the advantages of Chinese Internet giants on the application side may bring them longer-term growth stability.
Some observers pointed out that the broad prospects of the AI field are enough for investors to conduct thematic transactions from different dimensions. Indrani De, head of global investment research at FTSE Russell, said: "China has a huge manufacturing ecosystem, which means it can quickly achieve large-scale production. South Korea focuses on the hardware field. This industrial structure is very solid and difficult to shake in the short term."