SK Hynix Rebounds 0.4% as Foreign Exit and Solidigm Doubts Set Stage for October 28 Results
Published on 10/20/2026 at 03:51 | Editorial boerse-global.de
SK Hynix shares closed at 1,277,000.00 KRW on Monday, eking out a 0.4% gain after the stock's steepest weekly decline since the 2008 financial crisis — a slump that has left the chipmaker trading 57% below its 52-week high and put fresh scrutiny on its US subsidiary ahead of quarterly results.
The recovery was modest against the scale of the damage. Foreign investors dumped a net 5.35 trillion Won of SK Hynix stock last week, according to the Korea Exchange, cutting the overseas ownership share to 48.85% — the lowest since December 2021. The benchmark shed 15% over just five trading sessions as market participants locked in profits across the semiconductor sector following the earlier AI-driven rally.
Washington, Seoul and the Solidigm Question
Sentiment also took a hit from a debate over Solidigm, the US arm created through the $9 billion acquisition of Intel's NAND and SSD business. At a parliamentary hearing on Monday, Lee Chan-jin, governor of South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), voiced concerns about a possible US listing of the unit, with authorities examining whether a separate IPO would breach national rules on dual listings. SK Hynix responded that no such move has been decided and that it prioritizes long-term value for existing shareholders across all strategic options.
Manufacturing arrangements at another site drew attention as well. Reuters reported that Solidigm sought US approval to ship US-made equipment to SK Hynix's Dalian plant, tied to plans for a new US NAND fab. SK Hynix told Reuters that no capacity expansion is planned for the Module B section in Dalian and that the equipment installation is proceeding with US government authorization. The clarification followed reports of progress by Chinese manufacturer ChangXin Memory Technologies on denser DRAM cell structures and plans for server memory, which had stoked additional competitive worries.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying SK Hynix?
A $74 Trillion Won Hole in the Pension Portfolio
The selloff rippled through institutional holdings. Bloomberg reported that the National Pension Service, South Korea's state pension fund, held 7.32% of SK Hynix as of October 15, with the estimated value of that stake having fallen by roughly 74.2 trillion Won.
Thursday's session delivered the sharpest blow, with SK Hynix and rival Samsung Electronics each losing more than 9% in a single day. Mounting concerns over the Federal Reserve's interest-rate policy and the financing of AI infrastructure buildout triggered broad-based selling across global semiconductor equities.
Goldman Sees Shortage Running to 2028
Analysts remain constructive on the operating story. Goldman Sachs raised its 12-month price target on SK Hynix to 3.5 million Won, citing a structural undersupply in global memory markets expected to persist through 2028. The bank expects the squeeze to tighten further next year, particularly in DRAM, NAND and high-bandwidth memory (HBM).
Demand continues to rest on the enormous hardware requirements of AI data centers. Beyond the existing HBM portfolio, the industry is watching future standards such as NVHBM, which is set to offer up to 30% more bandwidth at 15% lower power consumption than HBM4E.
Product Pipeline on Display
SK Hynix showcased its AI memory technologies at the OCP Global Summit, including the MARS rack-scale architecture and a second-generation CXL-3.2 memory module with 256 gigabytes of capacity. The new module delivers more than double the bandwidth and roughly 30% better energy efficiency than its predecessor.
The October 28 Test
All eyes now turn to the company's third-quarter 2026 results, scheduled for October 28 with a conference call at 9:00 a.m. Seoul time. No preliminary figures or updated corporate guidance had been released ahead of the report, which the market expects to show a sharp year-on-year jump in profit. The numbers will give investors their first concrete read on how far worldwide demand for high-performance memory is underpinning the group's earnings power.
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