SK Hynix's record memory profit lands beside a warning: the shortage runs past 2030

A 557% profit jump and record margins arrive alongside a CEO forecast that the memory crunch won't end before 2030.

SK Hynix reported second-quarter revenue of 79.32 trillion won and operating profit of 60.54 trillion won, up 557% year over year, with an operating margin that reached a record 76%. DRAM average selling prices rose about 30% in the prior quarter and NAND prices climbed in the mid-50% range. Despite the earnings, SK Hynix closed down about 10% in Seoul, Samsung fell 5%, and the KOSPI ended 6% lower, having touched 5,262 during a five-session drop of 17%.

The company is spending to catch up. It raised 2026 capital guidance to the high 40 trillion won range and earlier in July priced 177.9 million ADRs at $149 each, raising $26.51 billion — described as the largest share sale by a non-US company on record. Proceeds fund Korean fabs including M15X, the Yongin Phase 1 cleanroom opening in early 2027, and EUV scanners. HBM4 entered mass production during the quarter.

Memory sits under all compute, so its price sets a floor under AI, servers, phones and the tools people use to learn and work. Rising DRAM and NAND prices push that floor up. TrendForce forecasts conventional DRAM contract prices rising 13% to 18% in Q3, with NAND up 10% to 15% — a broad cost increase across the digital knowledge layer.

CEO Kwak Noh-jung called 2027 the worst year of the shortage and placed its end beyond 2030. The caveat is timing: no capacity now being funded will produce wafers before 2027, so relief remains years out.

Source: Tom's Hardware