This year, the value of Korea's top 10 brands, including Samsung Electronics, was found to be close to $200 billion (about 276 trillion won).
Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, Korea's two largest semiconductor companies, increased their brand value significantly thanks to increased investment in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, and companies in the finance and defense industries also led the growth of Korean brands based on their strong performance.
According to the industry on the 6th, the value of the top 10 brands whose monetary value was revealed in the 'Top 150 Korean Brands by 2026' recently announced by 'Brand Finance', a British consulting firm specializing in global corporate evaluation, was calculated to be $196.77 billion (about 272 trillion won).
This is an increase of approximately 6% (USD 11.099 billion, KRW 15 trillion) from the value of the top 10 domestic brands last year.
Brand Finance evaluates the value of over 6,000 brands around the world by comprehensively analyzing their financial performance, public perception, and sustainability.
Samsung Electronics maintained its overwhelming first place, being recognized for its brand value of $97.415 billion (135 trillion won). This is an 8.9% increase from the previous year ($89.427 billion).
SK Hynix ranked third with a brand value of $15.76 billion, up 15.2% from the previous year.
Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix significantly increased their value by posting record-high performance one after another due to the surge in demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and AI server chips.
Brand Finance explained, “Semiconductor manufacturers are increasingly leading the growth of Korea’s brand value,” and “strong performance expectations across the entire semiconductor supply chain have strengthened investor confidence and contributed significantly to the rise in brand value.”
On the other hand, automobile companies that have been hit by various negative factors since last year have seen their brand value shrink.
Hyundai Motors (2nd place) was valued at $24.82 billion, down 6.1% from last year, and Kia (4th place) was valued at $10.413 billion, down 10.5% from last year. It was affected by negative business environments such as high interest rates, slowing global demand, and pressure from U.S. tariffs.
LG Electronics (5th place) had its brand value reduced by 8.9% to $9.67 billion. Brand Finance explained that the slowdown in demand in the home appliance market and the need to reorganize the brand to secure future profits were a burden.
It was followed by Coupang ($8.79 billion, 10.0% ↑), Shinhan Financial Group ($8.75 billion, 39.2% ↑), KB Financial Group ($8.3 billion, 13.7% ↑), Hyundai Mobis ($6.6 billion, 5.1% ↑), and Samsung C&T ($6.25 billion, 3.3% ↑), which ranked in the top 10 in that order.
Among the top 150 domestic brands, the growth of financial and defense companies with solid performance and export performance was notable, including Hana Financial Group (20th → 15th), Meritz Financial Group (70th → 55th), Hanwha Aerospace (47th → 23rd), Hyundai Rotem (94th → 66th), and Hanwha Systems (106th → 71st).
The combined value of the top 150 brands this year was approximately $357 billion, an increase of 4.3% ($14.8 billion) from last year.
Brand Finance evaluated, “Korea’s capabilities are becoming stronger in industries that will lead the future global economy,” and “Innovation, advanced manufacturing, and export competitiveness continue to support Korea’s most valuable brands.”
