Micron and SK Hynix join rival chipmaker Samsung in the $1trn club, after the latter hit the milestone valuation at the start of the month.

Leading chipmakers Micron and SK Hynix have both surpassed $1trn in market value, as AI drives demand for the companies’ memory chips.

Micron shares grew by more than 19pc yesterday (26 May) after investment bank UBS published a report that tripled its price target on the company’s stock from $535 to $1,525 per share – with UBS citing long-term agreement opportunities with major customers and partially fixed pricing on those deals.

The valuation milestone comes after Micron hit a valuation of $700bn at the start of the month.

Meanwhile, South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix also reached a $1trn valuation after its shares rose by 12pc today (27 May).

Last month, the company reported a five-fold surge in quarterly profits, while recent research from Counterpoint showed that SK Hynix held 57pc of the high bandwidth memory market in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Micron and SK Hynix join rival chipmaker Samsung in the $1trn club, after the latter hit the milestone valuation at the start of the month.

The valuations come as AI continues to fuel significant demand for the companies’ memory chips – a critical component of data centre expansion.

Other tech giants have benefitted majorly from this demand, including Nvidia, which recently revealed record Q1 revenue of $81.6bn. Last year, Nvidia became the first company to hit a $4trn valuation.

While companies like Micron, SK Hynix, Samsung and Nvidia have benefitted from the chip demand, the surge has also led to a major global chip shortage.

Earlier this year, IDC and Gartner warned that the global chip shortage could cause significant decline in smartphone and PC shipments, while also predicting sharp rises in price for the products due to a predicted surge in combined DRAM and solid-state drive prices by the end of 2026.

While chipmakers continue to grapple with the demand, reports indicate some companies might be considering alternative solutions to the shortage.

Last month, Reuters reported that AI giant Anthropic is considering the possibility of building its own chips. Rivals Meta and OpenAI already have such projects underway.

Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.