SK Hynix Pushes into US Markets as AI Memory Demand Strains Output to the Limit
05.06.2026 - 05:21:00 | boerse-global.de
SK Hynix is sprinting on two tracks at once: a $14 billion American depositary receipt offering that could land as soon as June or July, and a doubling of its wafer production capacity within five years. The South Korean chipmaker is trying to keep pace with an insatiable appetite for high-bandwidth memory that has already pushed its operating margin past Nvidia's.
The company has filed confidentially with the SEC and described feedback from existing shareholders as "overwhelmingly positive." SK Hynix wants a US listing partly to close an extreme valuation gap — its shares trade at a price-to-earnings ratio of just three to four in Seoul, far below American rivals. The stock has already surged 239% since the start of the year and sits barely 4% below its all-time high of 2,407,000 won.
The real story, though, is the mismatch between supply and demand. SK Hynix has sold its entire HBM capacity for 2026 and expects the favorable pricing environment to last through 2027. Some customers have made full upfront payments just to lock in production slots. Chairman Chey Tae-won acknowledged at Computex that new fab construction takes at least three years and that lead times for a greenfield factory can exceed five years. The bottleneck is structural, not temporary.
That scarcity is showing up in the numbers. In the first quarter of 2026, SK Hynix booked record revenue of 52.6 trillion won. Operating profit soared 405% to 37.6 trillion won, yielding an operating margin of 72% — higher than Nvidia's. It was the fourth consecutive quarterly record.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying SK Hynix?
The planned US listing, which could raise up to $14 billion, is designed to broaden the investor base beyond Seoul. Many US institutional funds are restricted to domestic-listed securities. The ADR offering, still subject to SEC review, would give SK Hynix direct access to that capital pool. The exact size of the deal has not been finalized.
Capacity expansion is already underway. Capital spending this year will exceed last year's 30.2 trillion won. New capacity is being built in Cheongju, at the Yongin semiconductor cluster, and at a packaging plant in the United States. Chey has publicly committed to doubling overall wafer output within five years — the first time the group has set a concrete expansion target.
The next technological leap comes later this year. SK Hynix plans to sample HBM4E, built on its 1c DRAM process, in the second half of 2026, with mass production scheduled for 2027. Nvidia's upcoming Vera Rubin platform will also require large volumes of LPDDR memory, which is expected to tighten the broader memory market from 2027 onward. SK Hynix has already warned it may not be able to fully satisfy demand.
SK Hynix at a turning point? This analysis reveals what investors need to know now.
By then, investors will have had a chance to buy the stock directly on a US exchange. The SEC's green light remains the single most important milestone before the ADR issue can proceed.
Ad
SK Hynix Stock: New Analysis - 5 June
Fresh SK Hynix information released. What's the impact for investors? Our latest independent report examines recent figures and market trends.
