📈 AI Boom Adds $4 Trillion to Memory Chip Market Caps

The combined market capitalization of the world's five largest memory chip makers—Samsung, Micron, SK Hynix, SanDisk, and Kioxia—reached $4.53 trillion by mid-2026, up from less than $500 billion in early 2025. The tenfold increase was fueled by surging demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in AI accelerators. SK Hynix and Micron posted the strongest gains, benefiting from their leadership in HBM, while Samsung—despite remaining the largest company by market value at $1.37 trillion—grew more slowly as competitors expanded HBM production more rapidly. NAND-focused Kioxia and SanDisk also recorded substantial gains as AI infrastructure investment lifted the broader memory industry.