SK Hynix profit jumps sevenfold as AI memory sells out through 2029
Nvidia supplier SK Hynix posted record third-quarter operating profit of 83.3 trillion won (about $62.8 billion), up more than sevenfold, and said its DRAM and high-bandwidth memory are effectively sold out through 2029, lifting chip stocks including Micron while the same squeeze keeps pushing up phone and PC prices.
AI-assisted · US Brief desk · Sources listed below
What happened
South Korea's SK Hynix, a major supplier of memory chips for Nvidia's AI processors, reported third-quarter operating profit of 83.3 trillion won on Wednesday, about $62.8 billion by Reuters' conversion, up from 11.4 trillion won a year earlier. That beat the 76.7 trillion won LSEG SmartEstimate, Reuters reported. Revenue topped 100 trillion won for the first time, at 104.6 trillion won, and the company put its operating margin at about 80%.
Why it matters
The same three companies, Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron, make memory for both AI data centers and consumer devices, and they have shifted output toward pricier AI chips. IDC says memory chip prices rose about 350% over the past year and global smartphone shipments fell a record 22% in the September quarter, Fast Company reported. IDC expects the average smartphone to sell for $581 this year, up from $450 last year. In February, Gartner forecast that memory costs would push PC prices up 17% and smartphone prices up 13% from 2025 levels.
More context
Sold out: On the earnings call, DRAM marketing vice president Park Jun-deok said that “over the next three years through 2029, virtually all of our D-Ram and high-bandwidth memory volumes are effectively sold out,” according to Seoul Economic Daily. The company's release says it expects demand to keep outrunning supply through 2030 because new chip plants take years to build. Reuters reported that SK Hynix also plans about 100 trillion won (about $75.4 billion) in dividends and share buybacks this year.
Market reaction: SK Hynix shares rose about 11% in Seoul and South Korea's Kospi index climbed 6.6%, Bloomberg reported. In New York, Reuters said Micron, the largest U.S. memory maker, rose 4.8% to its highest in more than two weeks by late morning, and the Philadelphia chip index was headed for a fourth straight gain. The rally comes before Microsoft and Alphabet report earnings after Wednesday's close, with Amazon on Thursday.
The strongest case from each side: Bulls point to SK Hynix's long-term supply contracts, which its release says cover more than half of 2027–28 output, and its view that AI demand is spreading from a few tech giants to ordinary businesses and governments. Skeptics note that the growth is hard to sustain. “The idea that such large firms can compound earnings at triple digits for multiple years seems to defy the laws of economics,” Franklin Templeton strategist Ehren Stanhope told Reuters on Wednesday. TrendForce, citing Taiwan's Commercial Times, says DRAM contract-price gains are slowing to about 20% this quarter from roughly 80% in the second quarter and 40% in the third.
What's still unknown: SK Hynix did not say how much of its sold-out supply goes to AI servers versus phones and PCs, or what prices the long-term contracts lock in. It's also unclear how quickly China's CXMT can add supply, and whether this week's big-tech earnings will confirm that AI spending keeps growing next year. For shoppers, forecasters have not said when device prices might ease.
9 listed sources
- SK hynix, “SK hynix Announces 3Q26 Financial Results,” Oct. 28, 2026:
- Reuters (via Investing.com), “SK Hynix Q3 profit jumps more than 7-fold, beats forecasts,” Oct. 28, 2026:
- Reuters (via Moneycontrol), shareholder-return plan, Oct. 28, 2026:
- Seoul Economic Daily, “SK hynix Sells Out DRAM, HBM Through 2029,” Oct. 28, 2026:
- Bloomberg (via Swissinfo), “Tech Rally Deepens on Hynix Earnings, Oil Climbs: Markets Wrap,” Oct. 28, 2026:
- Reuters (via Investing.com), “AI giants’ funding ambitions test Wall Street’s appetite for risk,” Oct. 28, 2026:
- Fast Company, “AI’s memory chip crunch is crushing the smartphone market” (IDC data), Oct. 16, 2026:
- TrendForce, DRAM price outlook for 4Q26, Oct. 20, 2026:
- Gartner, memory costs and PC/smartphone forecast, Feb. 26, 2026:
References listed by US Brief; a source count is not a verification score.
Editorial sourcing notes
Financial figures come from SK Hynix's Oct. 28 results release; dollar conversions follow Reuters. The 'sold out through 2029' remark was made on the company's earnings call and is quoted as reported by Seoul Economic Daily and Edaily. Device-price figures are forecasts and estimates from IDC, Gartner and TrendForce, not official price data. Stock moves are intraday and may differ at the close.
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