In brief: SK Hynix nearly went bankrupt two decades ago, and its share price had barely moved before last year. However, the company is now one of the leading manufacturers of a core component of the AI boom. Over the past few weeks, an unprecedented stock rally has propelled the chipmaker past Samsung to become South Korea's most valuable company – depending on which numbers are used.

SK Hynix's stock price closed at approximately 2.9 million Korean won on the Korean stock exchange on Monday. The 5.6% gain raised the company's total market cap to approximately $1.35 trillion. Excluding preferred shares, this places the DRAM maker slightly above Samsung for South Korea's top spot.

The dramatic shift, fueled by the AI industry's demand for memory, has put the two companies right behind Meta and Tesla in global rankings. Unsurprisingly, Samsung prefers observers to include preferred shares, which would place it right between Meta and Tesla at $1.5 trillion.

SK Hynix is a leading manufacturer of DRAM modules needed for HBM memory, a crucial element of Nvidia graphics cards that power AI data centers. Racing to build as many of these facilities as they can, AI companies have ordered more DRAM than SK Hynix and its rivals can produce.

As a result, while manufacturers of PCs, game consoles, smartphones, and other electronics have struggled to secure memory amid rising costs, memory makers have seen their profits and stocks boom.

The situation represents a dramatic turnaround for SK Hynix. The company was nearly purchased by Micron in 2002 and fell under creditor control for several years afterward. Its stock price hovered around 100,000 won over the past few years until it began rising steadily last summer, and has more than tripled since April.

Employees are already reaping the benefits. SK Hynix removed its bonus caps in September and expects to pay out approximately $16.9 billion this year, or about $477,000 per employee. Experts expect DRAM supply to remain tight through 2027, which could increase bonuses to nearly $900,000 next year.

The announcement pushed Samsung's employees to threaten a strike earlier this year, which it avoided with hours to spare. Workers expect to see bonuses averaging approximately $340,000. Many in South Korea believe that windfall profits should instead be shared with the public, since companies like SK Hynix partially relied upon taxpayer funding to reach their current status.