Korea's stock market capitalization has jumped nearly 80 percent in just one year, fueled by strong gains in Samsung Electronics and SK hynix amid booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, industry data showed Wednesday. The total value of local listed shares came to 3,972 trillion won ($2.69 trillion) as of early January, up 76.2 percent from 2,254 trillion won a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Korea CXO Institute. The number of listed companies with a market capitalization of 1 trillion won or more increased from 230 to 318 over the one-year period. Samsung Electronics' market cap more than doubled to 760 trillion won from 318 trillion won, while SK hynix saw its market value surge to 492 trillion won from 124 trillion won. Samsung Electronics retained its top position by market capitalization, followed by SK hynix, LG Energy Solution, Samsung Biologics and Hyundai Motor. SK Square jumped to seventh place from 41st over the year, while Hanwha Aerospace advanced to eighth from 22nd, and Doosan Enerbility rose to ninth from 35th. The benchmark Korea Composi