The AI trade is roaring back in South Korea, where the profits are getting harder to ignore
The AI trade is roaring back in South Korea, where the profits are getting harder to ignore
Huileng Tan Wed, October 28, 2026 at 7:17 AM UTC
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SK hynix has emerged as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the AI boom, with surging demand for advanced memory chips driving record profits.Chris Jung/NurPhoto/Getty Images -
South Korea's AI trade is roaring back after a bruising sell-off sent chip stocks tumbling.
SK Hynix's quarterly operating profit surged 632%, smashing expectations as AI chip demand soared.
The chipmaker is rewarding shareholders with massive payouts as customers lock in years of supply.
South Korea's AI trade got another boost from blockbuster SK Hynix earnings, as the chipmaker showed just how profitable the boom has become.
On Wednesday, the benchmark Kospi index closed 7% higher, extending Tuesday's gains of more than 3%. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix ended 9% and 11% higher, respectively.
The rebound follows a turbulent year for South Korean stocks, which have swung sharply amid the AI boom and concerns about the sustainability of massive infrastructure spending. As of Tuesday's close, SK Hynix shares had lost more than half their value since a June record high and were down nearly 25% this month.
Sentiment has rebounded this week, helped by Anthropic's blockbuster IPO filing and a renewed rally in US technology shares.
SK Hynix's latest results gave investors another reason for optimism.
The world's second-largest memory chipmaker reported third-quarter operating profit of 83.3 trillion won, or $62 billion, up 632% from a year earlier. Revenue rose 328% to a record 104.6 trillion won.
The record results were driven by surging demand for AI memory chips, including high-bandwidth memory used in AI infrastructure, and rising memory prices.
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That windfall is increasingly making its way to shareholders.
SK Hynix announced additional shareholder returns, bringing its planned dividends and share buybacks for this year to approximately 100 trillion won, or $75 billion. The total includes buybacks announced earlier, while some of the returns are being funded by gains from its investment in Japanese chipmaker Kioxia.
The company is also seeing signs that the demand driving its record profits could endure.
SK Hynix said it had secured long-term agreements with 14 major customers, including global cloud providers, covering more than half its production capacity for 2027 and 2028.
"The customer trust built through our technological competitiveness is leading to long-term contracts, and our business structure is transforming into one with earnings stability and mid-to-long term demand visibility," CEO Kwak Noh-Jung said in the company's earnings announcement.
Investors will get further insight into the strength of the memory-chip market in the coming days, with Samsung Electronics scheduled to report its full third-quarter results on Thursday, followed by Japan's Kioxia on Friday and China's CXMT on Saturday.
on Business Insider
Source: “AOL Money”
