SK Hynix's third-quarter profit surged sixfold, and announced a shareholder return plan of 100 trillion won in 2026, highlighting that demand for memory chips is still strong. The world's second-largest memory chip manufacturer announced that its quarterly operating profit for the year ending September was 83.3 trillion won, higher than the analysts' average estimate of 77.5 trillion won. Revenue rose to 104.6 trillion won, which also exceeded the average forecast of 99 trillion won. This performance has strengthened the market's confidence that AI data center construction will continue to drive demand for memory chips, thereby supporting the company's profits. In recent weeks, as large-scale AI infrastructure projects face financing and construction challenges, the AI investment boom has been increasingly questioned. SK Hynix supplies high-bandwidth memory chips to Nvidia and has become one of the biggest beneficiaries of the AI boom. Prices have soared due to a shortage of memory chips, and the company's operating profit margin is at an all-time high. SK Hynix said on Wednesday that the shortage of memory chips is expected to continue until 2030. According to Macquarie's research, memory chips currently account for about one-third of all AI data center spending. SK Hynix has an important position in this market thanks to its close cooperation with Nvidia. Macquarie said that as HBM prices are expected to more than double in 2027, the share of memory chips in overall AI hardware spending will rise in the next few years. SK Hynix's third quarter dividend was 20,000 won per share. It plans to pay a cash dividend of at least 30 trillion won in 2026, and buy back and cancel at least 60 trillion won of shares.

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