SK Hynix’s $26.5 Billion Nasdaq Windfall Finances a Deliberate Step Back From HBM4
Published on 07/11/2026 at 22:25 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
The South Korean chipmaker is making a calculated bet that today’s DDR5 margins are too good to ignore, even if it means putting the next generation of high-bandwidth memory on a slower track. With a record-breaking $26.51 billion haul from its Nasdaq debut on Friday, SK Hynix now has the financial firepower to pursue that strategy aggressively—converting production lines originally earmarked for HBM4 into DDR5 capacity instead.
The company placed 177.9 million American Depositary Receipts at $149 each, with every ten ADRs representing one ordinary share. Trading opened at $170, a 14% premium, and the stock settled around $172. The listing is the largest capital raise by a non-American company on Wall Street, eclipsing even Alibaba’s landmark 2014 IPO. SK Hynix plans to use the funds to build new fabrication plants in South Korea and purchase additional extreme ultraviolet scanners, boosting output of the HBM chips that power AI accelerators. The firm already commands a 56.4% share of the HBM market and counts Nvidia among its key customers.
Yet the company is deliberately slowing its transition to HBM4. According to industry researcher TrendForce, meaningful volumes of the next-generation memory will not arrive until the third quarter of 2026, and the full-year supply forecast has been cut from 4.5 billion to 4 billion gigabits. The reasoning is straightforward: DDR5 margins are soaring. Contract prices for DDR5 jumped 90–95% in the first quarter versus the prior period, and SK Hynix’s own quarterly report shows average DRAM selling prices rose by the mid-60% range. Analysts estimate the operating margin on DDR5 could approach 90% this year, making it more profitable than a rushed HBM4 ramp. The company has therefore reassigned capacity originally reserved for the HBM upgrade to DDR5 production.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying SK Hynix?
SK Hynix has room to maneuver thanks to an exceptional first quarter. Revenue hit a record 52.5763 trillion won (roughly $38 billion), the first time it has topped 50 trillion won in a single quarter, while operating profit reached 37.6103 trillion won, yielding a margin of 72%. Moreover, the entire HBM inventory for 2026 was already sold out early in the year, so pushing HBM4 harder would add little near-term revenue. Instead, the company is leaning into the DDR5 shortage—a gap that will take years to close. New capacity from SK Hynix’s M15X fab and Micron’s Idaho plant is not expected to deliver meaningful volumes until mid-2027, and Samsung’s Pyeongtaek facility will not come online until 2028.
The strategy is not without market friction. On the Seoul bourse, SK Hynix shares closed Friday at 2,180,000 won, down 0.27% on the day and 10.10% for the week. The stock sits 27% below its 52-week high of 2,987,000 won, set on June 25, and the 14-day relative strength index of 46.1 points to a neutral, not oversold, position. Yet the annualized 30-day volatility of over 114% suggests the weekly decline is more about profit-taking after a historic rally than a fundamental shift in the demand story. Year-to-date, the stock is still up 222.01%, and it has surged 343.54% from last October’s 52-week low of 491,500 won. The company’s market capitalization stands at roughly 898.77 billion euros.
Looking ahead, SK Hynix sees the memory crunch persisting for years. CEO Kwak Noh-Jung expects supply to trail demand until at least 2027, and in some scenarios beyond 2030. Chairman Chey Tae-won has pointed to a global wafer shortage that could last into the next decade, with capacity expansion requiring four to five years and the supply gap exceeding 20%. The company’s decision to slow HBM4 while flooding DDR5 production is not a retreat from AI-chip leadership, analysts argue—it is a pragmatic response to where the highest margins are today. The Nasdaq listing gives SK Hynix both the capital and the currency to execute that pivot, and a potential inclusion in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index could further re-rate the stock as passive funds take notice.
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