Samsung Electronics has joined the exclusive $1 trillion market value club, becoming only the second East Asian company to achieve this milestone. The South Korean memory chip giant's stock surged as much as 12% on Wednesday, helping push the Kospi benchmark past 7,000 for the first time. Samsung accounts for about a quarter of Korea's main index, which has risen more than 70% this year.

The tech giant's valuation surge stems from the AI boom, as Samsung produces the high-bandwidth memory chips that power artificial intelligence systems. The company's stock has almost quintupled over the past 12 months, with operating profit reaching Won57.2tn ($39bn) in Q1 alone—more than eight times the figure from the previous year.

Analysts suggest Samsung may still be undervalued with a forward price-to-earnings ratio of six times, compared with 25 for TSMC and 10 for Micron. Despite its semiconductor division's success, internal tensions have emerged as workers outside this division may not share in potential bonuses, contrasting with rival SK Hynix's decision to pay staff 10% of operating profit.