SK Hynix Charts Post-HBM Roadmap While Seoul Selloff Tests Bull Case
Published on 10/18/2026 at 11:10 | Editorial boerse-global.de
SK Hynix used the OCP Global Summit on Friday to unveil a slate of memory technologies reaching well beyond High Bandwidth Memory, pushing its data-centre ambitions into the spotlight just as its share price endured one of its roughest weeks in years.
Headlining the showcase was a 256-gigabyte module built on the CXL 3.2 standard. The second-generation product delivers more than twice the bandwidth of its predecessor, according to the company, while running roughly 30 percent more power-efficiently. SK Hynix also trotted out its modular rack architecture MARS and flagged progress on High Bandwidth Flash.
The product blitz came alongside a firm rebuttal of reports concerning the group's Chinese operations. SK Hynix denied that it intends to expand manufacturing capacity at its Dalian plant, saying equipment installation at the site's Module B is proceeding in close coordination with US authorities and under existing permits. Reuters had earlier reported that US subsidiary Solidigm was seeking shipment approvals for American equipment bound for Dalian, even as the parent weighs building a new fab on US soil. The episode lays bare the geopolitical tightrope memory makers walk in running their Asian production bases.
Foreign Investors Head for the Exits
On the Seoul exchange, the stock closed Friday at 1,272,000.00 KRW, a 24 percent slide over seven sessions — the steepest weekly percentage decline since November 2008. The retreat has done little to dent the longer view: the shares remain up 96 percent year to date.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying SK Hynix?
Data from the Korea Exchange shows the scale of the exodus. Foreign investors dumped SK Hynix stock worth a net 5.35 trillion won over the week, dragging the overseas ownership share down to 48.85 percent, its lowest since December 2021. Behind the selling: mounting doubts over the near-term profitability and financing of multibillion-dollar AI data-centre projects, compounded by anxiety over US interest rates. Reports of technological advances by China's CXMT in DRAM cell structures added to jitters over future market share — though Reuters noted that SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics are working on comparable architectures themselves.
Not everyone reads the slump as a verdict on fundamentals. Cho Sang-hyun of Hyundai Asset Management called Friday's drop a temporary overreaction to speculative fears of an AI valuation bubble, pointing to long-term supply contracts for advanced HBM that keep a lid on inventory gluts.
Goldman Turns Bullish
Goldman Sachs made its own bet on Sunday, lifting its 12-month price target for SK Hynix to 3.5 million won. The US investment bank's buy case rests on a global memory shortage it expects to persist into 2028, with standard DRAM, NAND flash and HBM supply looking even tighter in 2027 than in 2026. The bank sees no near-term threat to the incumbents' technological lead, arguing that years will pass before rival products achieve reliable mass-production yields and clear rigorous qualification processes at industrial customers.
Attention now swings to the company's third-quarter 2026 earnings call, scheduled for 9:00 Seoul time on 28 October 2026. Hana Securities pencilled in operating profit of 7.79 trillion won for the quarter and flagged the prospect of extra shareholder distributions of at least 3 trillion won. SK Hynix has already reaffirmed plans to buy back and cancel 40 trillion won of its own shares and to return more than half of its free cash flow from 2025 through 2027 to investors.
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SK Hynix Stock: New Analysis - 18 October
Fresh SK Hynix information released. What's the impact for investors? Our latest independent report examines recent figures and market trends.
