The price of SK hynix shares is seen on a screen at the Hana Bank dealing room in Seoul, as the chipmaker became the most valuable firm on the benchmark KOSPI with a market capitalization of 2,084 trillion won as of 12: 51 p.m. Monday. SK hynix overtook Samsung Electronics, which has held the top spot in 25 years and seven months. YonhapSK hynix overtook Samsung Electronics on Monday to become the most-valued listed Korean firm on the benchmark KOSPI in a dramatic turnaround nearly impossible to imagine decades earlier. SK hynix shares soared 5.6 percent, lifting the company's market capitalization to 2,080.4 trillion won ($1.35 trillion). Things turned around on "Black Tuesday" where shares took a dive with Samsung Electronics back at the helm. But Monday's performance when compared to when SK acquired the company 14 years ago, showed a market capitalization figure jump 130-fold. For a company that was withering under high debt and creditor-led stewardship achieved this milestone by focusing on the competitive high-bandwith memory (HBM) chips used in artificial intelligence (AI) systems.Samsung Electronics, the former top firm, saw its share slid by 0.14 percent, putting its market value to 2,066.66 trillion won Monday. By a more textbook measure, with Samsung's preferred shares also traded, the company's market value would still be larger than SK hynix at 2,246.4 trillion won. Yet, it has been replaced, even for a day, as the most valuable company nearly 26 years after it claimed the top position. The incident signals yet another step toward an AI paradigm both industrially and in terms of the Korean stock market. Signs that even retail investors cannot miss. Korean businesses and policymakers must comprehend it as they prepare ahead. Focusing on HBM chips has been paying off for SK hynix, with increasing demand for such products courtesy of customers like Nvidia and Google. SK hynix's strategy, for now, looks powerful against that of Samsung Electronics, which offers a wider range of products — from mobile, foundry and electronic appliances. SK hynix's plan to list American Depositary Receipts on the U.S. stock market reportedly being in the final stages, possibly as early as July, has been driving its shares higher. Yet the trajectory of the company, a unit of Hyundai then known as Hynix Semiconductors before SK's acquisition in 2012, seemed destined to head south. In 2002, the heavily debted company was almost sold to Micron before its board of directors decided against the sale. It was then put under creditor control for decades. After becoming SK hynix, it succeeded in developing the world's first HBM chip, a product initially received with cold shoulders due to its high price and limited application. The firm's growth is unprecedentedly fast and swift.In addition, the firm's history should provide a measurable insight on the emerging questions that appeared during May's labor dispute at Samsung Electronics over how to distribute its whopping first-quarter profits. Compounded in SK hynix's history is a mix of bold entrepreneurial decisions as well as state assistance. The semiconductor industry itself involves state engagement; administrations in Korea have prioritized the semiconductor industry since the 1980s. The Lee Jae Myung administration's primary goal to turn Korea into a one of the top three AI powerhouses may involve facilitation through policies or deregulations for Korean companies. In doing so, they may well bring about consensus that more profits earned can be converted into investments for the future. Technology is fast-accelerating, and memory chip rivals await in China while Japan is in the throes of revitalizing its semiconductor industry. SK hynix's surge to the top signals that global industrial structure is under rapid change.For Korean business sector, that the two top chipmakers are competing to bring a sense of market buoyance and technology changes can bring new players into the market. AI technologies are on a rapid rise despite skepticism, and both companies have been long been aiming for a cutting competitive edge. That approach to innovation, which further accelerates competition, should bring synergy as Korean chip firms and related companies leverage their technological capabilities amid the global industrial transformation.Skepticism is always inevitable. With the second-quarter prospects out soon, it is important to remember that the so-called semiconductor supercycle is invariably bound to be cyclical. Innovation should continue, with the type of dogged pursuit for growth.