hynix

Analyst Jukan published a discussion on the storage industry's cycle, believing that computing power and storage will tighten or loosen in sync, and that there will not be a situation where computing power is continuously in short supply while storage alone turns to surplus. He also stated that the logic of shorting storage while going long on hard drives does not hold, as hard drives are tied to the storage cycle; if this cycle declines, hard drives will struggle to remain secure on their own.Jukan noted that the market lacks a clear judgment on trends after 2027. Historically, prices often peak one to two quarters before supply increases, followed by an expansion in shipments and a contraction in profit pools. He believes that this cycle is different from those of personal computers, smartphones, and general-purpose servers, as the products used are not standardized, and the triggering factors are also different. Some investors who still view storage through the lens of past experiences of profits during upswings and losses during downswings dominate pricing, leading to a low valuation of storage. He stated that a sharp collapse similar to previous ones is unlikely to reoccur, but a gradual decline is possible; even if Samsung and SK Hynix's profit margins are halved from current levels, the price-to-earnings ratio may still be in the teens, about half of the valuation of hard drive companies.He also believes that when storage prices decline, other demands will absorb supply at various price levels, with local AI-driven personal AI demand expected to emerge. If the storage prices pushed up by hyperscale cloud providers cannot be controlled, local AI will struggle to spread. Referring to the transition from mainframes to personal computers and from cloud to smartphones, he anticipates that this AI cycle will shift from cutting-edge laboratories to local open-source AI, with the latter absorbing storage demand. He simultaneously stated that storage prices will not remain high for over ten years; prices will eventually decline, but new consumer demands driven by local AI and open-source initiatives may provide bottom support.

According to Gate market data, U.S. stocks opened with the Dow Jones up 0.46%, the S&P 500 down 0.4%, and the Nasdaq down 1.29%. The chip sector opened lower for four consecutive days this week, with SK Hynix (SKHY.O) and SanDisk (SNDK.O) dropping 6%, Micron Technology (MU.O) down 3.9%, Western Digital (WDC.O) down over 5%, and NVIDIA (NVDA.O) down over 3%.

According to Gate market data, the South Korean KOSPI index fell by 7%. SK Hynix dropped by 10%, and Samsung Electronics fell by nearly 8%.

According to Gate market data, Samsung Electronics fell 6% in pre-market trading on the Korean stock exchange, SK Hynix dropped 7%, and overnight U.S. stocks in the storage sector generally declined.

According to DealSite, storage chip manufacturer SK Hynix is expanding the mass production of the sixth-generation high bandwidth memory HBM4. However, some industry insiders believe that the expansion speed is slower than expected, and some equipment orders planned for this year may be postponed until next year.Industry insiders stated that some equipment originally scheduled for delivery in the second half of this year has shown signs of delay, and subsequent order plans have not yet been clarified. An anonymous source indicated that some equipment originally planned for this year may be pushed to next year, and there is no data confirming whether the delivered equipment is operating at full capacity. The investment plans related to HBM4 for next year have not been specifically communicated to some partners, and this year's orders have largely been completed, but there are no clear signals of increased or decreased investment. Reports suggest that the direct correlation between the equipment investment schedule and product quality issues has not yet been confirmed.Liu Henggen, a researcher at Daxin Securities, believes that concerns about major customers' HBM4 quality issues leading to performance below expectations are excessive. There may have been some issues in the backend process, but they cannot be regarded as insurmountable risks, and it is not yet time to discuss bad compensation. There are also industry claims that, against the backdrop of rising prices for general memory, some HBM investments may shift towards general memory. SK Hynix plans to prioritize the introduction of DRAM production equipment into the first cleanroom of the Yongin cluster Y1 wafer fab, and the industry expects that the initial production line will adopt the sixth-generation 10-nanometer 1c process, with the new capacity being prioritized for general DRAM. Some opinions also suggest that changes in the schedule of certain backend equipment are insufficient to determine that HBM4 mass production is hindered, as SK Hynix has already supplied HBM4 16-layer samples to major customers.

According to Gate quotes, the Hong Kong stock storage concept has declined, with Southern Double Long SK Hynix (07709.HK) dropping over 17%, and Southern Double Long Samsung Electronics (07747.HK) falling over 14%.

TrendForce reported on October 12, citing Chosun Biz, that as AI packaging accommodates more computing and storage chips, the intermediary layer connecting computing chips and HBM is expected to significantly increase in size, making next-generation HBM cooling more important. Samsung Electronics is preparing multiple technologies to address the cooling challenges of HBM4E, which is scheduled to begin mass production next year.Currently, the area of the AI intermediary layer is about 5.5 times the maximum exposure area of 858 square millimeters of an EUV lithography machine. Semiconductor equipment industry insiders expect that the intermediary layer carrying HBM could expand to 9 times, 12 times that area, and ultimately about 40 times. Reasons include limitations in process miniaturization and the popularity of chiplet-style 2.5D packaging, where multiple computing chiplets and HBM stacks are placed on the same intermediary layer, making it difficult for a single advanced process chip to meet AI computing power demands.Samsung is considering hybrid copper bonding and thermal path blocks. The former replaces the micro bumps between stacked DRAM chips with direct copper-to-copper connections, which can reduce inter-layer gaps, make the stack thinner, and improve heat dissipation, a technology Samsung showcased at NVIDIA GTC in March 2026. The thermal path block establishes a dedicated thermal path in the D2D PHY area responsible for high-speed transmission between HBM base chips and GPUs, which Samsung is validating with HBM4E and plans to implement in HBM5. According to ETNews, SK Hynix's iHBM places high thermal conductivity but electrically insulating cooling materials around the heat-concentrated D2D PHY, which is expected to reduce thermal resistance by about 30%.

The U.S. stocks of storage chip company SK Hynix will face the end of the lock-up period on Wednesday, which prohibits the company, its affiliates, and management from selling shares. Meanwhile, the market is questioning how long the storage chip boom can last. The company's American Depositary Receipts recorded their largest drop in three weeks on Monday.As of Tuesday's close, SK Hynix ADR is trading at a 38% premium relative to its domestic Korean shares, the highest among major Asian issuers tracked by Bloomberg. Despite a recent pullback, this price is still more than 20% higher than the listing price. There are currently no signs that the company plans to issue shares again like some Asian artificial intelligence companies have recently done.

According to informed sources, Solidigm, a subsidiary of SK Hynix's flash memory business, has selected Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley as the lead underwriters for its U.S. IPO, planning to go public as early as 2027, aiming to raise approximately $10 billion, with a valuation potentially reaching $100 billion. JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and UBS will also participate in this issuance, and Solidigm is simultaneously preparing for pre-IPO financing.Solidigm was formed from the restructuring of Intel's flash memory business acquired by SK Hynix in 2021, and currently focuses on providing high-capacity solid-state drives for AI data centers. In August of this year, the company reached a multi-year partnership agreement with CoreWeave to provide enterprise-level storage support for its AI cloud platform. SK Hynix responded that Solidigm is evaluating various options to enhance business competitiveness, and specific IPO plans have not yet been confirmed.

According to Gate market data, U.S. stocks closed higher on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising by 0.49%, the S&P 500 index up by 0.58%, and the Nasdaq up by 0.45%, with the latter two reaching new closing highs. Seagate Technology fell by 9%, Western Digital dropped nearly 7%, Moderna declined by 7.7%, and SK Hynix fell over 6%. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index closed up by 0.3%, while Alibaba fell over 1%.

According to Gate market data, U.S. stocks closed lower on Monday, with the Dow Jones down 0.67%, the S&P 500 index down 0.77%, and the Nasdaq down 0.92%. SK Hynix fell 5%, Meta dropped 4.8%, Tesla declined nearly 4%, and Nvidia rose 1.6%. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index closed up 1.1%, with NetEase rising nearly 5%.

According to RootData's popular stock CEX share data, as of the time of publication, among the popular stock assets with high trading volume in the last 24 hours, Gate ranks in the top three for market share in QQQ, SNDK, and SKHYNIX assets.Among them, Gate ranks second in the QQQ asset with a 24-hour trading volume of approximately 25.05 million USD and a share of 22.27%; ranks third in the SNDK asset with a trading volume of approximately 53.07 million USD and a share of 8.22%; and ranks third in the SKHYNIX asset with a trading volume of approximately 50.48 million USD and a share of 7.21%.

According to a report by South Korea's Small and Medium Business News on September 28, industry insiders stated that SK Hynix has initiated the foundational engineering required for establishing a semiconductor factory in the Tohoku region of Japan. One insider mentioned that it is still unclear whether the project will be an independent factory or a joint venture with Kioxia, but local groundwork is underway, and SK Hynix has also requested domestic component suppliers in South Korea to expand their supply.The report noted that as of a month ago, SK Hynix's stance on building a memory semiconductor factory in Japan was still "under research," and they stated that "there are no specific decisions." In response to this news, SK Hynix indicated that the Japanese memory semiconductor factory is still in the research phase, with no further advancements at this time.The report also mentioned that SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won stated in August this year that they are studying the establishment of a joint venture memory semiconductor factory in Japan, with the Tohoku region subsequently seen as a strong candidate. The Tohoku region of Japan and Iwate Prefecture have gathered semiconductor and material component companies such as Kioxia's Kitakami factory, Japan Semiconductor, Ancor Technology, Denso, and Tokyo Electron.

Micron Technology will announce its fiscal fourth-quarter results on September 30. NVIDIA CFO Colette Kress stated during the fiscal second-quarter conference call on August 26 that the company is seeing "extreme pricing conditions in memory," with price increases exceeding previous expectations, and that "will further rise next year." Pricing pressure has been reflected in NVIDIA's margins, with Kress guiding that gross margins will bottom out in the fourth quarter in the range of 71%-72%, before recovering to 72%-73% in fiscal year 2028.Kress indicated that the current memory shortage is largely driven by AI infrastructure itself. SK Hynix expects the memory market to reach supply-demand balance no earlier than 2030 and has invested approximately $38.3 billion to expand its two domestic bases in South Korea through 2031. SK Hynix holds about 50% of the high-bandwidth memory market share, leading Samsung's 33% and Micron's 18%.

Samsung Electronics hired former Director of the Foreign Exchange System Division of the Ministry of Finance and Economy, Lee Hee-kun, for its IR team as an executive last month. Lee Hee-kun has held positions such as Director of the Foreign Exchange System Division and Director of the Capital Market Policy Division, responsible for foreign exchange systems and overseas investment responses. In April this year, he participated in the work of including South Korea in the World Government Bond Index and received special recognition. He is expected to be responsible for responding to overseas investors and the global capital market.SK Hynix hired former Director of the Strategic Economic Division of the Ministry of Finance and Economy, Jeong Yu-jin, as the Vice President under the Communications Division last month. Jeong Yu-jin has served as the Director of the Climate and Environment Budget Division, Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, Director of the Foreign Exchange System Division, and Director of the Foreign Exchange Fund Division. Both companies are advancing production investments in the United States, with Samsung Electronics planning to invest $37 billion to build a foundry in Taylor, Texas, and SK Hynix planning to invest $4 billion to build an advanced packaging factory in Indiana.

According to a report by Reuters, informed sources say that South Korea's SK Hynix is in talks with Intel for a deal to produce memory chips in the United States for the first time. One possible option is for SK Hynix to lease part of Intel's long-planned chip manufacturing facility in Ohio; another option is to establish a joint venture with Intel and major cloud service companies eager to secure memory chip supplies.The deal would alleviate pressure on Intel and be a significant victory for the Trump administration. However, sources say that potential opposition from the South Korean side could be a major obstacle, as these technologies are considered sensitive. One source stated that the negotiations are still exploratory, emphasizing that no decisions have been made yet. If an agreement is reached, it is still unclear what type of chips SK Hynix would produce in Ohio.Its product line includes DRAM for servers, PCs, and smartphones, as well as NAND flash memory for long-term storage, and it is also a leading supplier of high bandwidth memory (HBM) used in AI processors.

SK Hynix and its union have reached an agreement on performance bonuses. According to the agreement, 50% of the bonus will be paid in cash, and the remaining 50% will be paid in company stock.SK Hynix originally planned to pay the entire performance bonus in cash. This means the company now needs to repurchase stock equivalent to at least 50% of the total bonus amount.

According to the Chosun Ilbo report on September 15, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix's third-quarter operating profit consensus has been raised again within three months. Based on reports from major brokerages and overseas investment banks, Samsung Electronics' estimated operating profit for the third quarter is approximately 114 trillion won, an increase of 12.2836 trillion won (12%) from 101.9052 trillion won three months ago, and a 28% increase from 89.4 trillion won in the second quarter. SK Hynix's estimate for the third quarter is 78.8035 trillion won, a 4% increase from 75.7249 trillion won three months ago, and a 30% increase from 60.5426 trillion won in the second quarter.TrendForce expects the fixed transaction prices for general DRAM in the third quarter to rise by 13% to 18% quarter-on-quarter, while NAND flash is expected to rise by 10% to 15%. The securities industry is paying attention to Samsung Electronics' HBM4 revenue share, which expanded from 5% in the first quarter to about 35% in the second quarter, along with improvements in yield rates. SK Hynix maintains the largest market share in HBM, but improvements in Samsung's HBM4 mass production may dilute its supply premium. Citigroup Securities has lowered SK Hynix's third-quarter operating profit estimate from 76.7 trillion won to 74 trillion won due to the strengthening of the won. Micron will announce its fourth-quarter results for fiscal year 2026 (June to August) on the 30th, with revenue guidance of $49 billion to $51 billion.