THE ESSENTIALS IN 30 SECONDS

  • Q3 2026 revenue reached 104.6 trillion won and operating profit 83.3 trillion won, both quarterly records, for an 80% operating margin.
  • SK hynix expects memory demand to exceed supply through 2030 and says HBM4 should overtake HBM3E in shipments and revenue in Q4.
  • Long-term agreements with 14 major customers, including large cloud providers, cover more than 50% of its 2027 and 2028 production capacity.

SK hynix reported its third-quarter 2026 results on October 28, setting new quarterly highs for both revenue and operating profit after growing demand for AI memory pushed up the prices of its key products, according to the company. The figures are preliminary and still subject to audit review.

The numbers

Revenue came to 104.6 trillion won, the first time the company has crossed the 100-trillion-won mark in a single quarter. That is 32% more than in the second quarter and 328% more than a year earlier. Operating profit reached 83.3 trillion won, up 38% on the previous quarter, giving an operating margin of 80%, compared with 76% in Q2 and 47% a year ago.

Net profit was 39.8 trillion won. That is 216% higher than in Q3 2025 but 58% below the second quarter, whose figure was unusually large; the release does not explain the swing.

On products, SK hynix says shipments of its HBM4 high-bandwidth memory ramped up during the quarter and expects HBM4 to surpass HBM3E in both shipments and revenue in Q4, becoming its main HBM product. Server DDR5 drove most DRAM growth, while high-capacity enterprise SSDs built on 321-layer NAND lifted flash sales.

A shortage expected to last

The company expects demand for memory to outpace supply through 2030, pointing to the difficulty of leading-edge manufacturing processes and the long time it takes to bring new fabs online. To lock in that demand, it has signed long-term agreements with 14 major customers, including leading cloud service providers. Together they cover more than half of its total production capacity for 2027 and 2028. Contracts typically run five years, with prices moving within agreed ranges, and longer terms are under discussion with some buyers.

SK hynix plans to push its M15X fab to full capacity by year-end and says investment will rise significantly next year as the first phase of its Yongin site enters full operation, without giving an amount. As Hardware Busters notes, with hyperscalers and AI customers reserving so much future output, consumer buyers of DDR5 memory may be left with what remains, at higher prices.