SK Square (402340.KS) shares surged in early trading Monday, surpassing the 1 million won “emperor stock” threshold.
According to the Korea Exchange, SK Square was trading at 1.104 million won as of 9:10 a.m., up 11.40% from the previous session. The stock jumped as high as 1.149 million won during the session, setting a new 52-week high. Its market capitalization reached approximately 14.5 trillion won, ranking third on the KOSPI after Samsung Electronics and SK hynix.
SK Square, an intermediate holding company of SK Group, has continued its steep rally on the back of rising SK hynix corporate value and expectations of expanded shareholder returns. “The rise in SK hynix’s share price, driven by the semiconductor industry upturn, is translating into an expansion of SK Square’s corporate value,” said Ahn Jae-min, analyst at NH Investment & Securities. “A virtuous cycle is forming, in which improved cash flow connects to expanded shareholder returns and funding for semiconductor-related M&A.”
Market analysts point to the rise in SK hynix’s value as the key factor. NH Investment & Securities forecast that the strength in SK hynix shares, which account for the largest portion of SK Square’s net asset value (NAV), will continue for the time being. The correlation between SK Square and SK hynix share prices was analyzed at around 98%. Accordingly, NH Investment & Securities lowered its NAV discount rate for SK Square to 25% from the previous 35%, reflecting the rise in SK hynix shares.
The improving memory industry trend is also expected to continue. “Memory demand is rising across the board, not only in HBM but also in server DRAM, SRAM, eSSD and LPDDR,” Ahn said. “A phase of structural growth driven by expanded AI computing will continue.” He added, “Dividend expansion on the back of SK hynix’s earnings growth is connecting to improved cash flow at SK Square. Based on abundant funding, expanded shareholder returns and M&A investments related to the semiconductor industry will also continue.”
Kim Hoe-jae, analyst at Daishin Securities, said, “SK Square’s market cap surpassed 10 trillion won for the first time based on its closing price on the 27th of last month, making it the fifth company to reach the 10 trillion won mark.” He added, “Based on 84 employees, market cap per employee stands at 1.2 trillion won, the highest in Korea.”
