SK Hynix on Monday topped Samsung as South Korea’s most valuable company, propelled by the AI-powered chip boom.

It marked a stunning reversal for a once debt-ridden company that earned the Korean epithet for a penny stock — “Dongjeon-ju,” Reuters wrote. Its shares have more than quadrupled this year, and it joined rivals Samsung and US-based Micron in crossing a $1 trillion valuation in May.

The fortunes of all three have soared as the aggressive AI buildout transformed memory chips from commodities to critical infrastructure — Micron’s shares also surged Monday after a deal with Anthropic — but consumers are bearing the brunt of the resulting capacity crunch, The Wall Street Journal reported: Electronics’ prices are increasing thanks to rising memory chip costs.