SK Hynix’s $950 Billion Korean-American Chip Pact Meets a 41% Slide From Peak as Earnings Loom
Published on 07/27/2026 at 10:31 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
SK Hynix enters a pivotal week caught between two opposing forces: a record-breaking alliance with Nvidia and Microsoft valued at $750 billion, and a stock that has tumbled 41.11% from its 52-week high. The tension between these narratives will come to a head on Wednesday when the memory-chip giant reports quarterly earnings.
The semiconductor pact, unveiled over the weekend at the K-AI Summit in San Francisco, represents one of the largest supply agreements in industry history. SK Group secured a memorandum of understanding with Nvidia worth more than $500 billion for HBM memory chips destined for data centers built through 2027, including HBM4 components for Nvidia’s upcoming Vera-Rubin platform. A separate long-term agreement with Microsoft covers server memory, while SK Telecom signed a letter of intent with Anthropic for a gigawatt-scale AI data center. Combined with Samsung’s parallel $200 billion deal with Broadcom for memory, foundry services and advanced packaging, the total Korean-American semiconductor package reaches approximately $950 billion.
Yet the market response has been anything but celebratory. On Friday, SK Hynix shares plunged 8.34% to close at 1,759,000 won, extending a slide that has erased more than two-fifths of the stock’s value since its June 25 peak. The Kospi index itself dropped 5.72% on Friday, though SK Hynix rebounded 3.24% on Monday to 1,816,000 won.
Skepticism Meets Strategic Ambition
The disconnect between the deal’s magnitude and the stock’s trajectory reflects deep-seated investor caution. Professor Yongseok Kim has warned that a genuine assessment of the agreements won’t be possible until around 2028, when it becomes clear whether demand justifies the multibillion-dollar investments. SK Group Chairman Chey described the pacts as a “realistic plan based on actual demand,” but the market appears to be pricing in execution risk.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying SK Hynix?
Additional pressure comes from Chinese memory manufacturer CXMT, which is expanding capacity and fueling concerns about a potential inflection point in the AI boom. The competitive landscape grew more complicated last week when Samsung delivered initial samples of its new HBM4E memory, temporarily shifting attention to market share dynamics even as SK Hynix maintains its dominant position.
Earnings Expectations Defy the Selloff
The quarterly numbers due Wednesday are expected to tell a dramatically different story. Analysts forecast operating profit that nearly doubles the previous record and exceeds SK Hynix’s entire 2025 earnings. Revenue is projected at 84.06 trillion won, with operating profit estimates ranging from 64.09 to 64.24 trillion won. The implied operating margin of 75–77% would surpass TSMC’s recently reported 60.3% — a remarkable feat for a memory manufacturer.
The driver is unmistakable: insatiable demand for high-bandwidth memory chips powering AI data centers. SK Hynix controls 57% of the global HBM market, according to BNP Paribas, compared with Samsung’s 22% and Micron’s 21%. The overall HBM market is expected to double from $76 billion this year to $156 billion by 2027.
Mirae Asset projects DRAM prices will rise 161.4% this year and NAND prices 222.2%, as SK Hynix has deliberately reduced conventional memory capacity to prioritize HBM4 production, further tightening supply.
Institutional Conviction Versus Retail Nervousness
South Korea’s National Pension Service bought net SK Hynix shares worth 425.8 billion won in July, signaling institutional confidence. KB Securities raised its price target to as high as 4.2 million won, and six securities firms have lifted their targets, citing expanding long-term supply contracts and expectations that the operating margin could again exceed TSMC’s.
The technical picture, however, remains fragile. The 14-day relative strength index sits at 40.1, indicating weak but not oversold conditions. Annualized 30-day volatility exceeds 118%, underscoring the market’s jitters around the HBM4 supply commitments and the upcoming earnings release.
SK Hynix at a turning point? This analysis reveals what investors need to know now.
Strategic Pivot and Capital Infusion
Beyond the immediate earnings event, SK Hynix is executing a strategic transformation. Alongside Samsung and Micron, the company has abandoned in-house development of CXL controllers, redirecting engineering teams toward processing-in-memory technology instead. The company warns that memory shortages could reach historic proportions by 2027.
The July U.S. listing raised $26.5 billion — the largest foreign IPO in American history — and contributed to a roughly 6% appreciation of the Korean won, the strongest performance among Asian currencies that month. SK Hynix also holds a 14% stake in Kioxia, making it effectively the second-largest shareholder in the Japanese storage specialist.
All eyes now turn to Wednesday’s earnings call, where management is expected to provide concrete details on pricing, capacity utilization and HBM4 delivery timelines. For a stock that has shed 41% from its peak despite a $750 billion alliance, the numbers will need to speak louder than the headlines.
Ad
SK Hynix Stock: New Analysis - 27 July
Fresh SK Hynix information released. What's the impact for investors? Our latest independent report examines recent figures and market trends.
Disclaimer regarding our articles: No investment advice, no buy or sell recommendation. Information on prices, companies, and markets is provided without guarantee; changes are possible at any time. Stock market transactions can lead to substantial losses. Our articles are created and reviewed in whole or in part automatically with the support of AI.
