SK hynix Q3 2026: record 83.3 trillion won profit, revenue tops 100 trillion
South Korea's SK hynix posted a record third-quarter operating profit of 83.3 trillion won (about $62.8 billion) on sales of 104.6 trillion won as AI memory demand surged, and set a 100 trillion won shareholder return target.
At a glance
- Update, Wednesday afternoon (Oct 28): the results sent the Kospi up about 6% and back above 6,000 points for the first time in 10 trading days, with SK hynix up about 10% and Samsung Electronics up 8–9%.
- SK hynix reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of 104.6 trillion won, up 328% from a year earlier and the first quarter in its history above 100 trillion won.
- Operating profit hit a record 83.3 trillion won (about $62.8 billion), up 632% year on year, with an operating margin of about 80%.
- Net profit of 39.8 trillion won missed forecasts, weighed down by currency and investment valuation losses.
- The company set a total shareholder return of about 100 trillion won for 2026, including at least 60 trillion won of buybacks and 30 trillion won of dividends.
- SK hynix said demand for its AI memory will exceed supply through 2030 and that long-term contracts cover more than half of its 2027–2028 capacity.
SK hynix, the South Korean chipmaker that supplies much of the world's AI memory, reported a record operating profit of 83.3 trillion won (about $62.8 billion) for the third quarter of 2026 on Wednesday, October 28. Revenue rose 328% from a year earlier to 104.6 trillion won, the first time the company's quarterly sales have passed 100 trillion won. Both figures beat market forecasts, driven by booming demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in artificial-intelligence data centres.
The results in numbers
| Measure | Q3 2026 | Q2 2026 | Q3 2025 | Change from a year ago |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 104.6 trillion won | 79.3 trillion won | 24.4 trillion won | +328% |
| Operating profit | 83.3 trillion won | 60.5 trillion won | 11.4 trillion won | +632% |
| Operating margin | about 80% | about 76% | about 47% | +33 points |
| Net profit | 39.8 trillion won | 93.9 trillion won | 12.6 trillion won | +216% |
Market consensus compiled by FnGuide had expected operating profit of about 77 trillion won and revenue of about 98.2 trillion won, so SK hynix beat both. Net profit, however, came in well below the roughly 61 trillion won analysts had forecast. The second-quarter net figure had been inflated by one-off gains, and the third quarter was hit by large currency losses and a valuation loss on the company's investment in Japanese memory maker Kioxia, according to analysts' estimates.
The company ended September with 114.5 trillion won in cash and only 15.8 trillion won of borrowings, leaving net cash of about 98.7 trillion won.
What drove the record
SK hynix said HBM4 — the newest generation of stacked memory that sits next to AI processors, including those for Nvidia's latest Vera Rubin platform — began shipping in large volumes during the quarter. It expects HBM4 to overtake the previous HBM3E generation in both shipments and revenue in the fourth quarter. Sales of DDR5 server memory also rose strongly, and NAND flash revenue grew on demand for data-centre solid-state drives.
The company said it has signed long-term supply agreements, typically of five years, with 14 major customers, and that these cover more than half of its production capacity for 2027 and 2028. It expects demand to exceed supply through 2030. Its new M15X plant will run at full capacity by the end of the year, and investment is set to rise significantly in 2027 when the first phase of its Yongin chip cluster begins full operation.
Shareholder payouts
| 2026 shareholder return plan | Amount |
|---|---|
| Total target | about 100 trillion won |
| Cash dividends | at least 30 trillion won |
| Share buybacks and cancellations | at least 60 trillion won (includes 40 trillion won announced in August) |
| Q3 dividend | 20,000 won per share (10,000 regular + 10,000 special), about 14 trillion won |
SK hynix also committed to returning at least half of its free cash flow to shareholders, and said it has stopped studying a stock market listing for its US-based storage unit Solidigm because of market conditions. Chief executive Kwak Noh-jung said customers' trust is leading to long-term contracts.
Market reaction
The results set off one of the strongest days of the year in Seoul. The Korea Exchange triggered a buy-side "sidecar" at 9:53 am, pausing programme buy orders for five minutes after Kospi 200 futures rose more than 5%; it was the second trading day in a row that the market's protective mechanism kicked in. By late morning the Kospi was up about 6.5% and climbed back above 6,000 points (6,003.22 at about 10:57 am) for the first time in 10 trading days, and it was still trading near 6,000 in the early afternoon. Foreign investors and institutions bought trillions of won of shares.
| Stock / index (Wednesday, Oct 28, intraday) | Move |
|---|---|
| Kospi | up about 6% to around 6,000 (previous close 5,638.34) |
| SK hynix | up about 9–10%, near 1.47 million won |
| Samsung Electronics | up about 8–9% (reports its results on Thursday) |
| Nikkei 225 (Tokyo) | up about 1.3%, led by Kioxia and Tokyo Electron |
Chip stocks in Taipei, Tokyo and Hong Kong also rallied as the results eased worries about an AI spending slowdown.
Why it matters
SK hynix is the biggest supplier of HBM to Nvidia, so its results are a direct reading of how much money is still flowing into AI infrastructure. A margin near 80% is extraordinary for a manufacturing company and shows how tight memory supply has become. For South Korea, chip exports are the main engine of growth — the country's third-quarter GDP grew 1% largely on semiconductors. For consumers worldwide, including in Pakistan and South Asia, the AI-driven squeeze on memory supply has pushed up prices of DRAM and storage used in phones, laptops and PCs, and SK hynix's outlook suggests that tightness will last.
What happens next
Samsung Electronics, SK hynix's main rival, is expected to publish its full third-quarter results at the end of October. Nvidia reports its next quarterly results in late November, which will show whether AI chip demand is keeping pace with memory makers' forecasts. SK hynix will report fourth-quarter results in January 2027.
Questions people are asking
How much profit did SK hynix make in Q3 2026?
SK hynix made an operating profit of 83.3 trillion won (about $62.8 billion) in the third quarter of 2026, a record and 632% more than a year earlier. Net profit was 39.8 trillion won.
Why are SK hynix profits so high?
Demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in AI chips, especially the new HBM4 supplied for Nvidia's latest platforms, together with strong server DRAM and data-centre SSD sales and higher memory prices, pushed revenue and margins to records.
What dividend is SK hynix paying for Q3 2026?
SK hynix will pay 20,000 won per share for the third quarter: a 10,000-won regular dividend plus a 10,000-won special dividend, about 14 trillion won in total.
