SK Hynix will announce its third-quarter financial report, with rumors of shareholder returns reaching up to 60 trillion won

SK Hynix will announce its Q3 2026 financial report after the U.S. stock market closes on Tuesday, along with a new shareholder return plan. The market is focused on the demand for high bandwidth memory (HBM), profitability, and whether a large special dividend will be issued. Other memory manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics and Kioxia Japan will also gradually announce their performance.

The demand for AI infrastructure is driving an upward trend in the memory chip market. KB Securities analysts estimate that more than 70% of the memory that the two major Korean memory chip manufacturers plan to produce next year is covered by five-year supply agreements signed with large technology companies. The market is beginning to worry about the return on AI capital expenditures and financing costs, with investors paying more attention to order quality, the sustainability of future demand, and the pace of capacity expansion.

Korean media previously reported that SK Hynix is considering issuing a special dividend of about 16 trillion won (approximately 12 billion USD); other reports suggest that the new shareholder return could reach as high as 60 trillion won (approximately 45 billion USD). These amounts have not been officially confirmed by the company. SK Hynix had previously announced a buyback and cancellation of treasury shares worth 40 trillion won and plans to use more than 50% of its free cash flow from 2025 to 2027 for shareholder returns.