The world’s biggest cloud providers are taking the extraordinary step of offering to bankroll SK Hynix’s factory expansions in exchange for guaranteed access to the cutting-edge memory chips powering artificial intelligence. Microsoft, Google and Amazon have approached the South Korean semiconductor giant with proposals to share the cost of ASML’s EUV lithography machines, each priced at roughly $400 million. The move underscores a supply squeeze so severe that customers are now willing to fund their own competition.
The market’s reaction was immediate. SK Hynix shares surged nearly 8% on Wednesday to a record 1,976,000 won, bringing their year-to-date advance to 192%. Together with Samsung Electronics, the two stocks now account for more than 42% of the entire KOSPI market capitalization.
Capacity crunch accelerates factory timeline
To keep pace with insatiable demand, SK Hynix has pulled forward the pilot production of its M15X facility in Cheongju by two months. The plant is purpose-built for HBM4 memory, the next-generation technology destined for Nvidia’s future platforms. By the end of this year, capacity at the site is expected to reach roughly 70,000 wafers per month, with full mass production slated for the third quarter of 2026.
The company’s current output is already sold out, prompting the unprecedented customer financing offers. Yet management remains cautious, wary of becoming overly dependent on a handful of buyers and losing pricing flexibility down the road.
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Record margins, but a growing labor cost headache
The financial results reflect the boom. First-quarter revenue jumped 198% to over 50 trillion won, while the operating margin hit a staggering 72%. That level of profitability has drawn a wave of analyst upgrades: UBS recently raised its price target to 1.7 million won, citing a memory super-cycle that breaks with three decades of patterns. Daishin Securities went further, setting a target of 2.5 million won. Goldman Sachs, meanwhile, warns that the current supply gap is the most severe in 15 years and could persist through 2030.
But the profit bonanza carries a hidden cost. SK Hynix distributes 10% of its operating profit to employees as performance bonuses, and the cap that once limited those payouts was removed three years ago. With the bonus pool now swelling along with earnings, analysts see a risk that labor expenses will eat into margins, especially once the M15X factory adds to global supply and competition heats up.
Dividend and strategic outlook
Shareholders, at least, have something to pocket in the near term. The company has confirmed a quarterly dividend of 375 won per share, with the ex-date set for May 28.
Meanwhile, the race to secure AI memory has taken SK Hynix’s leadership to Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, where talks with Satya Nadella and Bill Gates focused on HBM3E chips for Microsoft’s Maia 200 accelerator. As the next technology cycle approaches with HBM4 mass production in 2026, the company is already adjusting designs to meet stricter requirements, locking in its lead for the year ahead.
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