Samsung is the first Korean company to be worth nearly $700 billion

To say that Samsung looms large over South Korea's economy would be an understatement. It's one of the largest conglomerates in the country, with diverse businesses ranging from insurance to mobile devices, medicines, and construction.

Samsung Electronics is one of the most widely known group company and it now has the distinction of being the first South Korean company to be worth close to $700 billion.

Investors have poured into the company's stock over the past year, pushing it to new record highs. The stock briefly traded above 160,000 won today, or around $110. This pushed Samsung Electronics' market cap beyond 1000 trillion won or nearly $700 billion.

This is the first time that a company based in South Korea has hit this level, and the company has some massive conglomerates, such as LG, Hyundai, Lotte, etc. Publicly traded companies tend to be chronically undervalued in South Korea due to certain limitations of the capital markets, but what has been seen with Samsung Electronics' stock this year has been quite rare.

The company's stock has more than tripled in the past year as investors have become bullish on the company's prospects to extract the most out of the memory super cycle. This has continued to increase the demand for its stock and that has obviously led to higher prices.

Samsung Electronics' stock is finding a favorable audience among the country's youth. A recnet report indicated that more than 400,000 young South Korean investors under the age of 20 hold Samsung Electronics' stock. They must really be happy with how the stock has performed.