A sign at SK Hynix Inc.’s office in Seongnam, South Korea, Tuesday, June 30, 2026.
Cho Sung Joon | Bloomberg | Getty Images
korean chip manufacturer SK Hynix On Wednesday, the company posted record quarterly profits that far exceeded expectations, announced more than $25 billion in dividends and share buybacks, and its stock price rose more than 8%.
Below is a comparison of SK Hynix’s third quarter results to LSEG SmartEstimates. These focus on more consistently accurate analyst forecasts.
Revenue: 104.62 trillion won ($78.86 billion) vs. expected 98.34 trillion won Operating profit: 83.33 trillion won vs. expected 76.72 trillion won
Sales revenue increased 327.9% year over year, and operating income increased 632.1% year over year.
Compared to the previous quarter, sales increased by 31.9% and operating income increased by 37.6%.
SK Hynix shares rose more than 8%, outpacing Kospi’s 6.25% rise.
The company announced plans to return about 100 trillion won to shareholders, including at least 30 trillion won in cash dividends and 60 trillion won in share buybacks and cancellations, with sales exceeding 100 trillion won for the first time and breaking records for quarterly sales and operating profit.
In the earnings announcement, SK Hynix CEO Kwak No-jung cited financial market volatility and the correction in semiconductor stocks as the main reasons for canceling pre-IPO financing and consideration of IPO options for its US subsidiary Solidim.
Solidigm has concluded that the IPO will not achieve the full expected benefits at this time.
Kwak No-jung
SK Hynix CEO
The company said it will continue to evaluate the timing, size and financing options for investments to support Solidigm’s growth and enhance shareholder value.
Kwak also outlined plans to return the profits from the investment in Japanese semiconductor maker Kioxia to shareholders, saying, “We intend to return the profits from the investment in Kioxia this year to shareholders through a special dividend.”
The company approved a third-quarter dividend of 14 trillion won, including a special dividend funded by investment profits in Kioxia.
As mentioned in the earnings release, SK Hynix also plans to buy back 20 trillion won of shares, half of which will be canceled this year, after completing the 40 trillion won share buyback announced last week.
The company also plans to increase its shareholder return target to more than 50% of cumulative free cash flow generated from 2025 to 2027, as it expects the momentum in AI investments to continue due to the increased adoption of AI services and the diversification of its investor base.
The company predicted that the structural imbalance in supply and demand in the memory market, where demand exceeds supply, will continue for the time being.
Increased memory production
SK Hynix expects HBM4 to surpass HBM3E in both shipments and revenue in the fourth quarter as it ramps up production at its M15X facility in Cheongju, South Korea.
HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) is a type of advanced memory used with AI processors to process large amounts of data. HBM4 is the sixth generation of this technology and began mass production and shipping in the third quarter.
DRAM average selling prices rose by a low 20% rate from the previous quarter due to higher traditional DRAM prices and an increase in the sales share of the more expensive HBM4.
Meanwhile, as noted on the conference call, shipments of DDR5 memory chips for servers (a type of memory used in data center servers) increased more than 40% from the previous quarter.
The company has secured long-term contracts with 14 major customers covering more than 50% of its production capacity in 2027 and 2028, expects memory demand to outstrip supply through 2030, and plans to significantly increase investment next year.
