South Korea’s SK Hynix has reported a more than seven-fold jump in quarterly profit and unveiled a shareholder return plan worth about 100 trillion won, or about $75 billion, for this year, in the clearest sign yet of how strongly demand for artificial intelligence memory chips is reshaping the global semiconductor market.
The Nvidia supplier said the surge was driven by AI infrastructure demand pushing up memory chip prices. Its results, reported in Seoul on October 28, 2026, beat expectations and helped lift technology shares across Asia, with SK Hynix shares rallying sharply and larger rival Samsung Electronics also gaining strongly, according to Reuters.
Key Takeaways
- SK Hynix reported a more than seven-fold jump in quarterly profit, driven by AI infrastructure demand for memory chips.
- The company plans shareholder returns of about 100 trillion won, or about $75 billion, for this year, through dividends and share repurchases.
- It said it has sold out of high-bandwidth memory and DRAM chips until 2029, with high-bandwidth memory demand double what it can supply.
Record profit driven by AI memory demand
Bloomberg reported that SK Hynix posted an operating profit of 83.3 trillion won, or about $62.5 billion, for the September quarter, beating projections by more than 7 percent. The company is the world’s second-biggest memory chipmaker, and its results are closely watched as a gauge of spending on the data centres and accelerators that power AI systems.
The company said it has sold out of high-bandwidth memory and DRAM chips until 2029, and that demand for high-bandwidth memory is double what it can supply. It also said a chip shortage is likely to continue through 2030, a message that runs against recent investor worries about whether AI spending can keep growing at its current pace.
The company said it has sold out of high-bandwidth memory and DRAM chips until 2029, and that demand for high-bandwidth memory is double what it can supply.
High-bandwidth memory, known as HBM, is a specialised type of memory used alongside AI accelerators, including those made by Nvidia. Because AI models need to move very large amounts of data quickly, HBM has become one of the tightest bottlenecks in the AI supply chain. When supply cannot keep up with demand, prices rise, and that price strength is now flowing directly into SK Hynix’s profits.
A $75 billion return to shareholders
SK Hynix said its shareholder return policy for this year will total about 100 trillion won, comprising cash dividends of more than 30 trillion won and share repurchases and cancellations of more than 60 trillion won, including 40 trillion won announced in August. It also said it will return most of the gain earned from its investment in Japanese peer Kioxia to shareholders through a special dividend to be distributed as part of its third-quarter and full-year payouts.
Analysts quoted by Reuters said the commitment to buy back and cancel shares would be an effective way to boost per-share value. The scale of the return underlines how much cash the AI memory boom is generating, even as the company says it is investing heavily in expanding capacity.
- Quarterly profit rose more than seven-fold, boosted by AI infrastructure demand for memory chips.
- Shareholder returns for the year total about 100 trillion won, or about $75 billion.
- HBM and DRAM chips are sold out until 2029, with HBM demand double available supply.
- The company expects a chip shortage to continue through 2030.
- Shares in SK Hynix and Samsung rose sharply in Seoul after the results.
Why the market is watching AI spending so closely
The results land at a sensitive moment for AI stocks. Investors have been asking whether the huge capital spending on data centres will translate into sustainable revenue, and whether customers will keep funding AI projects at the same pace. SK Hynix’s chief financial officer, Kim Woo-hyun, addressed that concern directly, saying customers were looking more closely at project feasibility and profitability, but that spending would continue.
According to Reuters, Kim said: “We expect AI investment momentum to continue, as customers’ AI spending is translating into broader adoption of AI services and tangible business results, while the range of companies investing in AI is also becoming more diversified.”
That message helped drive gains across Asian tech stocks, which had already rallied this week on optimism around AI. It also sits alongside other signs of heavy AI chip investment, including Infineon’s $1.1 billion chip plant investment in Austria and reports of growing demand for AI chips across the industry.
For device makers, phone makers and data centre operators, a shortage lasting until 2030 would mean continued pressure on memory prices and on supply planning. For SK Hynix, it means order books that are already full for years ahead, but also the challenge of expanding production fast enough without overbuilding if demand eventually cools.
What to Watch Next
Investors will now watch whether AI customers keep spending at the pace SK Hynix describes, whether memory prices stay high as the shortage continues through 2030, and whether the company’s capacity expansion can ease the gap between high-bandwidth memory demand and supply. The next test will come from upcoming earnings from other major technology companies, which will show whether AI spending is broadening, as SK Hynix expects, or becoming more selective.