Seoul: South Korea's stock market capitalization has surged nearly 80 percent over the past year, driven by significant gains in Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc., amidst rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, as revealed by industry data.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the total value of local listed shares reached 3,972 trillion won (US$2.69 trillion) as of early January. This represents a 76.2 percent increase from 2,254 trillion won a year earlier, based on data from the Korea CXO Institute. Over the same period, the number of listed companies with a market capitalization of 1 trillion won or more grew from 230 to 318.
Samsung Electronics saw its market cap more than double to 760 trillion won from 318 trillion won, while SK hynix experienced a significant rise in market value to 492 trillion won from 124 trillion won. Samsung Electronics maintained its leading position by market capitalization, with SK hynix, LG Energy Solution Ltd., Samsung Biologics Co., and Hyundai Motor Co. following suit.
The data also showed SK Square's ascent to seventh place from 41st, Hanwha Aerospace's move to eighth from 22nd, and Doosan Enerbility's rise to ninth from 35th. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) climbed 75.7 percent in 2025, from 2,398.94 at the start of the year to 4,214.17 by year-end. This marked the strongest annual gain for the index since 1999, which saw an 83 percent increase before the dot-com bubble burst in 2000.