SK Hynix Races to Close the Supply Gap as Earnings Day Approaches
Published on 07/24/2026 at 05:02 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
The South Korean chipmaker’s shares surged 4.86 percent to 1,919,000 won on Thursday, snapping a brutal stretch that had wiped more than a quarter off the stock in the preceding month. The catalyst was twofold: a massive capital expenditure commitment from Alphabet that reignited enthusiasm for the AI infrastructure trade, and a board-level decision at SK Hynix to pour 7.09 trillion won — roughly $5.1 billion — into a new chip packaging facility in Cheongju.
The facility, designated P&T7, will handle the packaging and testing of high bandwidth memory chips, the critical components that power Nvidia’s AI accelerators. By situating the plant next to the recently converted M15X factory, which now produces DRAM exclusively for HBM, SK Hynix can shuttle wafers directly from one site to the next, slashing transport times and accelerating output. The investment represents about 5.88 percent of the company’s equity capital.
The timing reflects a sense of urgency that runs through the entire SK Group. Chairman Chey Tae-won has warned of a looming “chipflation” — a term he coined to describe how rising memory prices could ripple across the electronics industry as demand for high-performance chips outstrips available capacity. His forecast: the imbalance could persist through 2027. To stay ahead of Samsung and Micron, SK Hynix is also pulling forward the opening of its Yongin Semiconductor Cluster, with the first clean room now slated for February 2027 as part of a broader investment program worth up to 600 trillion won.
Alphabet’s Spending Bombshell
The immediate trigger for Thursday’s rally, however, came from across the Pacific. Alphabet raised its 2026 capital expenditure forecast to between $195 billion and $205 billion, up from a prior range of $180 billion to $190 billion, after Google Cloud posted quarterly revenue of $24.8 billion — an 82 percent year-on-year surge. The news sent SK Hynix’s American depositary receipts, which listed in New York on July 10 in what was the largest ADR IPO by a foreign company, jumping between 4.5 percent and 6.7 percent in pre-market and regular trading.
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Morgan Stanley commented that the scarcity of memory chips and computing power remains intact, with the AI infrastructure cycle still in its early stages. The rotation into memory stocks also lifted Micron and SanDisk, while Tesla slid as much as 14 percent on disappointing earnings and Alphabet itself lost over 7 percent at one point despite strong results, as investors focused on its first-ever negative free cash flow.
The ADRs have been trading at a roughly 34.5 percent premium to the Seoul-listed ordinary shares, a gap that has persisted since the conversion cap of 2.5 percent was reached, limiting supply. The IPO raised approximately $26.5 billion and was reportedly seven times oversubscribed.
The Hangover From a Margin-Fueled Selloff
Thursday’s bounce masks a painful few weeks. On a 30-day basis, SK Hynix shares are still down 25.62 percent, and they remain 35.75 percent below the 52-week high of 2,987,000 won reached on June 25. The relative strength index of 44 suggests neither overbought nor oversold conditions.
The earlier slide had a distinctly local flavor. In early July, SK Hynix lost more than 20 percent over two trading sessions as a wave of margin calls swept through South Korea’s retail-heavy market. Roughly 12 million individual investors — more than 3 percent of the adult population — received margin calls as kreditfinanzierte positions were unwound. Margin debt had hit a record equivalent of $1.42 trillion in May, up 53.7 percent from a year earlier.
The volatility has been extreme by any measure: the annualized volatility stands at roughly 116 percent, underscoring how sensitive the stock is to every twist in the AI narrative. On Friday, the KOSPI slipped back below 7,000 points to 6,886.56, a 2.96 percent decline, as escalating tensions in the Middle East — including reports that the Trump administration is considering an attack on Iran and that Houthi rebels are blocking the Red Sea — dragged SK Hynix down 3.60 percent. Analyst Kiwoom Securities still expects a partial recovery in semiconductor stocks.
Earnings on Deck
All eyes now turn to July 29, when SK Hynix reports second-quarter results. The consensus estimate calls for earnings per share of 71,211 won, up 3.6 percent from the forecast a month ago. Investors are looking for confirmation of record operating margins and concrete updates on the ramp-up of the next-generation HBM4 memory.
The company’s partnership with TSMC to integrate memory and logic chips — part of what SK Hynix calls its “memory foundry” model — will be a key topic. With HBM capacity reportedly largely booked through 2025, utilization rates and yields at facilities like the new P&T7 plant will be critical to second-half performance.
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The fundamental picture remains robust. In the first quarter of 2026, SK Hynix posted revenue of 52.6 trillion won, nearly triple the year-ago figure, with an operating margin of 72 percent and net profit up 398 percent. According to Counterpoint, the company commands a 58 percent market share in high bandwidth memory, the essential memory type for AI accelerators. Management expects HBM demand to exceed supply for another three years, while Nomura forecasts data center investment growing at roughly 48 percent annually through 2030.
Beyond Cheongju, SK Hynix is investing about $4 billion in a new packaging plant in Indiana to expand capacity for 2026. On the sidelines of an AI summit in San Francisco, Chairman Chey Tae-won and Samsung Chairman Jay Y. Lee are expected to meet with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to discuss long-term supply contracts for memory chips.
For now, the stock has recovered some ground — up 4.18 percent over the past seven days and 195.37 percent year to date — but it still trades 12.77 percent below its 50-day moving average of roughly 2.2 million won. The next earnings report will determine whether the recovery has legs or whether the margin-fueled hangover has further to run.
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