SK Hynix Posts Record Q3: Revenue Tops 100 Trillion Won for the First Time, Memory Sold Out Through 2029

What happened

Against market expectations, both headline figures beat forecasts: revenue rose 327.9% year over year and operating profit rose 632.1%, beating securities-industry estimates by 6.5% and 8.3% respectively; net profit of 39.78 trillion won fell short of the 61.29 trillion won market forecast on the FnGuide figures cited by EBC. The Dow Jones account of the results also put the operating margin up 3 percentage points sequentially to about 80%, a company record.

The driver is AI memory: shipments of HBM4, the newest high-bandwidth memory, began in earnest in the quarter, and the company expects HBM4 to pass the older HBM3E in both shipments and revenue in the fourth quarter; server DDR5 shipments rose more than 40% from the previous quarter, average DRAM prices rose by a high-20s percentage and average NAND prices by a mid-20s percentage; expanded operations at the M15X plant in Cheongju will lift fourth-quarter DRAM shipments by more than 20% sequentially.

The outlook and market reaction were reported together: the company said the supply shortage will last through 2030, more than 50% of 2027 and 2028 production is covered by long-term contracts, and customer requests for HBM exceed twice the level it can supply; on Oct 28 in Seoul trading SK Hynix shares rose 10.89% and Samsung Electronics rose 9.01%, with the KOSPI index retaking 6,000; the company also announced about 100 trillion won in shareholder returns for 2026, including at least 30 trillion won in cash dividends and at least 60 trillion won in buybacks and cancellations.

Key facts

1. Revenue: 104.6155 trillion won, up 327.9% year over year, the company's first quarter above 100 trillion won.
2. Operating profit: 83.3338 trillion won, up 632.1% year over year, for an operating margin of 79.7%.
3. Net profit: 39.7756 trillion won, below the 61.29 trillion won market forecast on the FnGuide figures cited by EBC.
4. Prices: average DRAM prices rose by a high-20s percentage sequentially and average NAND prices by a mid-20s percentage; server DDR5 shipments rose more than 40% sequentially.
5. Sold out and contracted: DRAM marketing vice president Park Jun-deok said DRAM and HBM volumes are effectively sold out through 2029; chief financial officer Kim Woo-hyun said volumes secured through long-term agreements account for more than 50% of 2027 and 2028 capacity, with the shortage expected to persist through 2030.
6. HBM4: shipments began in earnest in the third quarter, and the company expects HBM4 to overtake HBM3E in shipments and revenue in the fourth quarter; expanded M15X operations in Cheongju will lift fourth-quarter DRAM shipments by more than 20% sequentially.
7. Shareholder returns: about 100 trillion won for 2026, including at least 30 trillion won in cash dividends and at least 60 trillion won in buybacks and cancellations, including the 40 trillion won buyback approved in August; the third-quarter dividend is 20,000 won a share, about 14 trillion won in total, half of it a special payout from gains on the Kioxia stake.
8. Shares: on Oct 28 in Seoul trading, SK Hynix rose 10.89% and Samsung Electronics rose 9.01%.