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# SK Hynix tops 100 trillion won in quarterly sales and says the memory shortage will last until 2030
- URL: https://www.skimwire.com/sk-hynix-record-quarter-memory-shortage-2030/
- Published: 2026-10-28T12:42:42.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-28T12:42:42.000Z
- Description: Record revenue of 104.6 trillion won and an 80% operating margin, driven by AI memory. Long-term deals already cover over half of 2027-28 output.
- Author: Jeremy Moon
- Tags: Business

## The skim

- SK Hynix reported third-quarter revenue of 104.6 trillion won (about $78.9 billion), its first quarter above 100 trillion won, and operating profit of 83.3 trillion won, an 80% operating margin. Both beat analyst estimates.
- The memory maker says demand will outrun supply through 2030, and it has already signed long-term deals covering more than half of its 2027 and 2028 production.
- It plans about 100 trillion won in shareholder returns this year. The stock closed up 10.9% in Seoul on Wednesday.

## The numbers

Revenue rose 328% from a year earlier and 32% from the second quarter, while operating profit jumped 632% year over year, [SK Hynix said](https://news.skhynix.com/en/q3-2026-business-results/?ref=skimwire.com). Analysts polled by LSEG expected 98.34 trillion won in revenue and 76.72 trillion won in operating profit, [CNBC reports](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/28/sk-hynix-third-quarter-profit.html?ref=skimwire.com).

The driver is AI. Shipments of HBM4, the newest high-bandwidth memory that sits next to AI chips like Nvidia's, began in earnest in the quarter, and SK Hynix expects HBM4 to pass the older HBM3E in both shipments and revenue in the fourth quarter as its M15X plant in Cheongju hits full capacity. Server DDR5 shipments rose more than 40% from the previous quarter, and average DRAM prices rose by a high-20s percentage, per CNBC.

The company is handing much of the cash back: a third-quarter dividend of 14 trillion won (20,000 won a share, half of it a special payout from gains on its Kioxia stake) and a new 20 trillion won buyback. It also dropped its review of an IPO for Solidigm, its U.S. storage subsidiary, citing market conditions.

## Why it matters

SK Hynix's best-ever quarter comes from a shortage, and the company says that shortage isn't ending soon. Building leading-edge memory fabs takes years, so it expects demand to exceed supply through 2030\. It has signed long-term agreements with 14 major customers, including big cloud providers, covering more than 50% of its 2027-2028 capacity.

That matters well beyond data centers. When AI buyers lock up memory years ahead, everyone else pays more for what's left. Apple raised prices on Macs and iPads in June and [blamed the cost of memory](https://arstechnica.com/apple/2026/06/apple-ratchets-up-prices-blames-the-cost-of-memory/?ref=skimwire.com), and even its new [M6 MacBook Pro and iMac](https://www.skimwire.com/apple-m6-macbook-pro-14-imac-prices-preorders/) kept those higher prices. If SK Hynix is right, cheaper RAM and SSDs in phones and laptops aren't coming back any time soon.

Who's affected: anyone buying a PC, phone or console over the next few years, plus device makers squeezed on margins. The winners are the memory makers themselves, as SK Hynix's record shows.

What's next: SK Hynix says it will raise investment significantly next year as the first phase of its Yongin site enters full operation, while staying flexible on timing. For a read on the rest of the AI buildout, Alphabet and Microsoft [report earnings](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/25/earnings-week-alphabet-microsoft-amazon.html?ref=skimwire.com) after U.S. markets close today.

*Sources:* [*SK Hynix*](https://news.skhynix.com/en/q3-2026-business-results/?ref=skimwire.com) *and* [*CNBC*](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/28/sk-hynix-third-quarter-profit.html?ref=skimwire.com)*, with context from* [*Ars Technica*](https://arstechnica.com/apple/2026/06/apple-ratchets-up-prices-blames-the-cost-of-memory/?ref=skimwire.com)*.*