SK Hynix: turnover multiplied by more than four over a year, and a memory shortage expected until 2030

Held by the HBM memory of AI chips, the Korean exceeds for the first time 100,000 billion won of quarterly sales and promises about 100,000 billion won to shareholders. The share jumped by almost 11%.

SK Hynix published record results for the third quarter: a turnover of 104,600 billion won (about $78 billion), up 328% over one year and 32% over one quarter, and an operating profit of about 87,700 billion won. Both exceed the expectations of analysts. The title ended Wednesday's session, up 10.9%, when the Kospi index gained 6.6%.

Long contracts with 14 large customers

The Korean manufacturer plans to return approximately 100,000 billion won to its shareholders, including at least 30 trillion in dividends and 60 trillion in redemptions and cancellations of shares, with a special dividend financed by its gains on Kioxia. On the other hand, it has suspended its fund-raising or market introduction project for its US subsidiary Solidigm, citing market volatility. For HBM4, which entered mass production this quarter, it expects it to exceed HBM3E in both volume and revenue in the fourth quarter.

SK Hynix has signed multi-year agreements with 14 major buyers, which cover more than half of its capacity for 2027 and 2028, and estimates that demand will exceed supply at least until 2030 given the difficulty of cutting-edge processes and the delays in plant construction. The back of the medal, recognized by its financial director: the surge in memory prices should reduce the delivery of PCs and smartphones.