SK Hynix shareholders will receive about $75 billion through dividends and share buybacks. For investors, this is direct income, while memory chip orders through 2029 ensure the South Korean manufacturer is fully booked for years to come.
The flip side of the record is a shortage: according to SK Hynix's estimate, the scarcity of such chips will persist until 2030. For businesses building data centers for artificial intelligence (AI), this could mean long waits for supplies and high memory prices.
Revenue grew by 316%, orders booked through 2029
According to SK Hynix's quarterly report, the manufacturer's revenue in the third quarter grew by 316% to 104.6 trillion won ($78 billion). Net profit increased by 216% and reached 39.8 trillion won ($29.7 billion). The total payout will amount to about 100 trillion won: more than 30 trillion won ($22.4 billion) will go to dividends, over 60 trillion won ($44.7 billion) to share buybacks. Buybacks reduce the number of shares in circulation, so each remaining shareholder's share of profit grows.
Demand for SK Hynix products grew along with the AI boom: its memory chips are used in data centers and other artificial intelligence systems. After the results were published, the company's shares rose by almost 11%, and since the start of the year their growth has amounted to 128%.
SK Hynix also reported that it has received orders for HBM and DRAM memory that cover production through 2029. HBM is ultra-fast memory for AI accelerators, while DRAM is the RAM of servers and computers. The company expects the shortage of such chips on the market to persist until 2030.
SK Hynix shares plunged before the report
The record report came after a deep slump: on October 15, SK Hynix shares lost over 9% in a day and fell to 57% below their June peak, while market capitalization shrank by more than $660 billion. The company's stock had risen almost sixfold over the previous eight months amid the AI demand wave, and the KOSPI index lost up to 8% amid the sell-off, with the exchange suspending trading for 20 minutes.
The KOSPI rebounded by 4.53% on the eve of the publication thanks to a rally in SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, and the Korea Exchange restricted program purchases for the second time in six days. Shortly before that, Goldman Sachs analysts lowered the index target from 12,000 to 9,000 points: according to their calculations, chipmaker valuations imply a 65% decline in the sector's profit by 2027, although the bank itself considers such a forecast overly pessimistic.
Crypto traders are also catching sharp moves around SK Hynix's earnings: in the summer, a large trader turned multimillion-dollar losses into $6.44 million in profit in the days before and after the publication of the previous quarterly results.
Cryptalist analysis: Record dividends and a $75 billion buyback make SK Hynix one of the most attractive instruments for gaining exposure to AI infrastructure, while orders through 2029 provide revenue visibility that is rare for the semiconductor sector. At the same time, extreme volatility — a 57% drop from the peak before the report — points to overheated valuations and high sensitivity to any signals of slowing demand. For the crypto market, this is an important indicator: the resilience of memory manufacturers directly reflects real demand for AI computing, which remains a key driver of capital into digital assets.