The top spot by market capitalisation in South Korea’s stock market changed hands for the first time in 26 years. SK Hynix overtook Samsung Electronics intraday to become the largest company on the KOSPI by market value. An analysis said the share rise followed SK Hynix’s lead in the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) market amid expanding artificial intelligence (AI) investment and a semiconductor supercycle.

As of 12:42 p.m. on Tuesday, SK Hynix was trading at 2,934,000 won, up 6.15 percent from the previous session. It rose as high as 2,945,000 won during the session, setting a new 52-week high. SK Hynix’s market capitalisation was tallied at 2,091.7 trillion won at that time.

At the same time, Samsung Electronics was trading at 357,500 won, up 0.99 percent from the previous session. Samsung Electronics’ market capitalisation was 2,090.4 trillion won, about 1.02 trillion won less than SK Hynix. On an intraday basis, SK Hynix moved ahead of Samsung Electronics.

It was the first time in 26 years that Samsung Electronics gave up the top spot by market capitalisation in South Korea’s stock market since it rose to the top in 2000 by overtaking Korea Telecom Corp, now KT. It marked a shift in the Samsung Electronics-led structure of the domestic stock market that had lasted for nearly a generation.

The change was also reflected in share-price gains. Over the past year, Samsung Electronics shares rose about 480 percent, while SK Hynix shares climbed more than 920 percent. SK Hynix’s market capitalisation jumped into the 2,000 trillion won range in a year from about 187 trillion won in June last year.

SK Hynix is also pushing to list American depositary receipts (ADRs) in the United States. In March, it submitted a registration statement on Form F-1 to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a U.S. ADR listing.

If the listing materialises, access for global investors would expand and is expected to affect competition for the top semiconductor stock.

Still, intraday market-cap rankings can change again as share prices move. The contest in market value between Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix is expected to continue for the time being depending on investor sentiment toward AI semiconductor investment, HBM competitiveness and global supply-and-demand flows.