SK Hynix Pours $5.8 Billion Into Korean Plant as CEO Flags 2027 Supply Crisis
Published on 07/22/2026 at 13:22 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
The memory chip giant is racing to build capacity before what its own leadership predicts could be the most severe supply crunch the industry has ever seen — even as its stock suffers a brutal 30-day selloff and the company battens down the hatches against takeover rumors.
SK Hynix’s board on Wednesday approved a massive budget increase for its Cheongju packaging facility, known as P&T7, lifting the total investment to 7.0931 trillion won — roughly $5.8 billion and equivalent to 5.88 percent of the company’s total equity at the end of 2025. Construction began last November, and the expanded investment phase is now expected to run through December 2032. The board cited rising production requirements and an accelerated timeline for cleanroom openings as the rationale for the additional capital.
The urgency stems from a stark internal forecast. CEO Kwak Noh-jung has warned that 2027 could be the most difficult year on record for the memory chip industry from a supply perspective. DRAM manufacturers are currently meeting only 75 to 80 percent of global demand, and that coverage rate could slide to around 60 percent by 2027, according to market data. SK Hynix has already sold out its entire 2026 production capacity for high-bandwidth memory, DRAM and NAND — a clear signal of the pressure behind the Cheongju expansion.
Analysts project that business-to-business sales to major tech conglomerates and AI data centers will account for roughly 70 percent of revenue during the 2026-2027 upcycle. Demand appears locked in; the open question is whether SK Hynix can deliver fast enough.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying SK Hynix?
The investment news failed to stabilize the stock, however. Shares closed Wednesday at 1,830,000 won, down 0.33 percent on the day, after briefly touching a two-week high of 2,006,000 won. The reversal was triggered by a company denial: SK Hynix formally rejected speculation that it plans to acquire Intel’s semiconductor campus in Ohio. The company filed a mandatory disclosure with the KOSPI exchange on July 21 and 22 stating that while it routinely reviews investment and acquisition opportunities, no decision has been made regarding the Intel facility.
The rumor had a natural hook: SK Hynix bought Intel’s NAND and SSD business for $9 billion in 2022. But the current denial aligns with a different strategic priority. Just weeks earlier, on July 10, the company celebrated its Nasdaq listing, raising roughly $26.5 billion earmarked for expanding its own AI chip operations — not for buying someone else’s factories.
The stock’s recent slide has been severe. Over the past 30 days, shares have lost 37.31 percent and now trade 38.73 percent below their all-time high of 2,987,000 won, set in late June. On a year-to-date basis, the stock still shows a gain of 181.67 percent, a reminder of the massive AI-driven rally that preceded the correction.
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has described the current market environment as “abnormal,” driven by a profound imbalance between supply and demand. Meritz Securities analysts estimate that DRAM makers can currently satisfy only 75 to 80 percent of market demand, a figure that could fall to 60 percent by 2027.
SK Hynix at a turning point? This analysis reveals what investors need to know now.
On the technology front, SK Hynix recently unveiled a new memory architecture called IMTE, which it says can improve AI inference efficiency by 35.7 percent compared with conventional systems. The architecture places CXL hybrid memory between traditional high-performance memory (HBM/DDR) and SSDs. The company is also in discussions about sample deliveries of its second-generation CMM-DDR5 modules, based on the CXL 3.2 standard. Analysts view these moves as critical to maintaining leadership in AI memory solutions as conventional HBM and DDR capacities hit their limits.
Two key dates loom for the stock. On July 29, SK Hynix will report second-quarter 2026 earnings. The consensus calls for revenue growth of more than 260 percent year-over-year, driven by the sold-out production of HBM and high-end DRAM chips through year-end. That same day, the conversion mechanism between the Korean-listed shares and the newly listed Nasdaq ADRs kicks in, a process designed to eliminate the current premium between the two listings.
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