Shares of SK Hynix surged 10.8% to €946.00 on its Frankfurt listing after the South Korean chipmaker reported blowout quarterly results and issued guidance that reinforced Wall Street's most optimistic AI spending forecasts — yet the stock remains well below the €1,135 it traded at just eight days ago. SK Hynix Hits Daily Limit in Seoul After a $600 Billion Rout — Is the AI Memory Supercycle Enough to Justify the Rebound?
Shares snapped back violently on July 31 as SK Hynix surged nearly 30% in Seoul — hitting the Korea Exchange's daily upper limit at ₩1,718,000 — while the Frankfurt-listed stock jumped 10.8% to €946.00. The rebound followed a powerful overnight rally in U.S. tech stocks after upbeat earnings from Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta reinforced expectations that AI infrastructure spending remains robust. Yet the stock is still far below its June all-time high after plunging 47% on concerns about overcrowding and leverage-induced volatility.
Record Profits Weren't Enough to Impress — But the Demand Story Holds
Revenue rose 51% quarter-on-quarter and 257% year-on-year to ₩79.32 trillion; operating profit climbed 557% year-on-year to ₩60.54 trillion, producing a 76% operating margin. Even so, analysts had expected operating profit of ₩64 trillion and revenue of ₩84 trillion , and the shortfall was attributed to next-generation high-bandwidth memory shipments coming in below expectations, pushing revenue recognition into later periods. In plain terms: the company is making more money than ever, but Wall Street's appetite is growing even faster.
The Chairman Put His Own Money In — A Confidence Signal
The rally came a day after SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won disclosed his first direct purchase of SK Hynix shares — 3,620 shares worth about ₩4.79 billion. Insider buying during a steep sell-off is often read by the market as a floor-setting gesture, and it coincided with JPMorgan analysts noting that extreme leverage in South Korea has significantly unwound.
AI Spending Validated by Big Tech Earnings
Samsung's warning that memory shortages could persist through 2028 and Microsoft's accelerating data-center investment outweighed concerns about SK Hynix's earnings miss.
SK Hynix holds 56.4% of the global high-bandwidth memory market by revenue , giving it an outsized claim on every dollar Big Tech spends on AI chips. The company has secured long-term supply agreements with around 10 major customers , locking in demand visibility that few hardware suppliers can match.
Cash Is Piling Up, but So Is the Spending Bill
Cash and equivalents rose to ₩88 trillion while interest-bearing debt fell to ₩18.6 trillion. That war chest will be tested: 2026 capital expenditure is expected to reach the high ₩40 trillion range , funding new fabrication plants and next-generation tooling. Shareholders should watch whether these investments translate into market-share gains or simply maintain the status quo in an industry where standing still means falling behind.