SK Hynix’s 48% Slide From Peak Puts Record Earnings in the Spotlight
Published on 07/28/2026 at 21:21 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
The numbers are stark: SK Hynix shares have shed 48.11% since their June 25 record high of 2,987,000 won, with a single-day rout of 14.65% on Tuesday dragging the stock to 1,550,000 won. Over the past 30 sessions, the decline totals 41.02%. Yet beneath the surface of this sell-off lies a paradox — the company is expected to post its highest-ever quarterly profit when it reports on Wednesday.
The carnage was not confined to SK Hynix alone. South Korea’s Kospi index plunged 10.84% to 6,023.66 points, triggering two trading halts in what became the benchmark’s worst session since March. Samsung Electronics, the country’s largest company, fell 13.39% — its steepest single-day drop since October 2008. Samsung SDI slid 11.37%, LG Innotek tumbled 16.29%, and Seoul Semiconductor gave up 8.78%. Foreign investors dumped nearly 5 trillion won worth of Korean equities, while retail buyers stepped in with similar-sized purchases. The won weakened to 1,462.5 against the dollar.
The sell-off rippled across Asia. In Japan, Tokyo Electron lost 10.96%, Advantest dropped more than 10%, and Kioxia cratered over 18%. SoftBank Group, a bellwether for AI investment through its Arm stake, fell 4.43%. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. closed nearly 3% lower. The weakness extended to US-listed names: Micron Technology had already fallen about 2% on Monday, and pre-market trading on Tuesday pointed to further losses.
What Sparked the Panic
A confluence of factors triggered the rout. Chief among them was a report that a Chinese state-backed company, Shanghai Aishengna Electronic Technology Group, has begun mass-producing immersion DUV lithography machines. Founded in 2023 with roughly $1 billion in capital and backed by Shanghai Electric and Shanghai International Trust, the company plans to deliver five machines in 2026 and around twenty in 2027 to customers including SMIC, Hua Hong, and memory-chip maker CXMT. JPMorgan cautioned that a handful of machines does not equate to high-volume manufacturing, but the news nonetheless rattled investors already nervous about China’s technological ambitions.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying SK Hynix?
Adding fuel to the fire was CXMT’s initial public offering, where the stock surged 466% on its debut, making it the most valuable listed company on mainland China. Separately, a report about a potential $250 billion financing guarantee from Nvidia for an OpenAI data center weighed on the entire chip sector — this despite Nvidia previously announcing AI funding commitments totaling more than $750 billion, of which roughly $500 billion is tied to a partnership with SK Hynix’s parent, SK Group.
Technical Signals and Analyst Views
The relative strength index for SK Hynix dropped to 36.1 on Tuesday, pushing into oversold territory. The stock now trades about 29% below its 50-day moving average but remains 33% above the 200-day average — a sign that the medium-term uptrend, while bruised, is not broken.
Owen Lamont, senior vice president at Acadian Asset Management, pointed to the role of leveraged exchange-traded products in amplifying the move. The entire ecosystem of leveraged ETFs in Korea, Hong Kong, and the US may be contributing to market volatility, he said, though he stopped short of blaming them entirely for SK Hynix’s recent swings. Lamont also highlighted the broader uncertainty surrounding the AI investment cycle, noting that investors still lack clarity on how the technology will transform the economy over the long term.
Sundeep Gantori, chief investment officer for equities at Standard Chartered, linked the sell-off to shifting perceptions of China’s ambitions in the memory-chip market. Recent media reports about Chinese plans for memory chips and lithography equipment have soured sentiment toward the entire semiconductor sector, he said. Still, Gantori remains sanguine on the long-term outlook: the market is large enough for multiple players to coexist and profit, while the AI investment cycle continues to support leading technology companies.
Other analysts offered mixed verdicts. Pictet warned of margin pressure from Chinese competition, while NH Investment framed the pullback as a buying opportunity. Barclays reiterated its buy rating with a $330 price target on the ADRs, implying upside of more than 130% from recent levels — though the depositary receipts had already fallen below their Nasdaq issue price of $149. Korean market observers repeatedly described Tuesday’s correction as overdone, pointing to sustained demand for high-performance memory chips.
SK Hynix at a turning point? This analysis reveals what investors need to know now.
The Earnings Test
Wednesday’s quarterly report now carries outsized importance. The consensus estimate calls for revenue of 84.1 trillion won and operating profit of 64.1 trillion won — figures that would set new records for the company. Options markets are already pricing in a double-digit swing around the release, reflecting the heightened tension of recent sessions.
The question hanging over the stock is whether record earnings can calm the fears that have driven this sell-off: China’s technological catch-up, the financing structure of the AI industry, and the sustainability of demand for high-bandwidth memory chips used in AI servers. SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics are among the world’s largest suppliers of these chips, making them acutely sensitive to any shift in expectations around US cloud providers’ capital spending.
For now, the market is betting on a binary outcome. If the numbers disappoint, the sell-off could deepen. But if they confirm the strength of the AI-driven memory cycle, Tuesday’s rout may be remembered as a buying opportunity — one that arrived just hours before the company delivered its best quarter ever.
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SK Hynix Stock: New Analysis - 28 July
Fresh SK Hynix information released. What's the impact for investors? Our latest independent report examines recent figures and market trends.
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