The memory chip sector remains highly robust. Just weeks after Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. surpassed a market capitalization of one trillion dollars, another South Korean memory chip giant, SK Hynix, is also approaching this milestone. After an astonishing 274% surge in 2025, SK Hynix's stock has risen over 200% year-to-date in 2026, driving its market value to $938.6 billion. Strong demand from large technology companies building artificial intelligence (AI) data centers has constrained memory chip supply and pushed up prices for both high-end and standard memory chips. Both Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and SK Hynix are benefiting from this sustained growth momentum in the global memory chip market. In this context, SK Hynix crossing the trillion-dollar market cap threshold appears imminent. If SK Hynix joins Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. in the "trillion-dollar market cap club," South Korea will become the first market outside the United States to host two companies with such valuations. In an era where computing power equates to productivity, Asian semiconductor firms represented by TSMC, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., and SK Hynix have firmly secured core positions in the global industry chain. An analyst noted that the market is being driven by FOMO (fear of missing out), particularly regarding AI-related stocks in Japan and South Korea. Investor enthusiasm for chip stocks like SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. has also propelled the South Korean stock market to continue its strong performance this year. The benchmark KOSPI index, which surged 75% in 2025 for its best annual performance since 1999, has extended gains this year, rising over 86% and reaching record highs.
The "memory crunch" is intensifying! Tech giants are reportedly rushing to secure supply by investing in SK Hynix. Global technology leaders are competing to extend offers to SK Hynix, proposing investments to build new production facilities and fund the purchase of expensive manufacturing equipment, all to lock in memory chip supply ahead of competitors. This phenomenon is unprecedented in the global memory chip industry, highlighting the severity of the current shortage. According to informed sources, SK Hynix's clients have proposed various collaboration schemes, including investing in dedicated memory production lines. Another proposal involves clients funding equipment purchases for SK Hynix, such as extreme ultraviolet lithography machines from ASML, which are used to etch circuits onto silicon wafers and cost hundreds of millions of dollars per unit. Sources also revealed that some proposals target the first phase of SK Hynix's large-scale fab project in Yongin, South Korea, a facility focused on future DRAM memory chip production. However, sources added that SK Hynix, with ample internal funds, is cautious about client investments. Such deals could make the company dependent on specific buyers and potentially require supplying chips at lower prices in exchange for "longer-term, more stable revenue guarantees." A source stated that regardless of the proposals, currently available production capacity is nearly zero, and not even a small portion can be allocated to specific clients. The flood of investment proposals from tech giants to SK Hynix is a rare spectacle in memory chip industry history, a sector known for extreme boom-bust cycles. This also leads chipmakers to believe the current upturn may last longer. Both SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. stated last month that the current memory chip supply shortage will persist, as chip manufacturers need time to build capacity to keep pace with the "structural growth" in AI demand. SK Hynix noted that "due to current supply constraints, the company cannot fully meet all customer demand," adding that requests from customers for long-term supply contracts to secure inventory are increasing sharply.
The "memory super-cycle" continues. Whether it's Google's massive TPU AI computing clusters or NVIDIA's vast AI GPU computing clusters, they all rely on fully integrated HBM memory systems paired with AI chips. Furthermore, tech giants accelerating the construction or expansion of AI data centers must purchase server-grade DDR5 memory and enterprise-grade high-performance SSDs/HDDs on a large scale. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., SK Hynix, and Micron Technology are precisely positioned in these three core memory segments: HBM, high-performance server DRAM (including DDR5/LPDDR5X), and high-end data center SSDs. They are the most direct beneficiaries within the "AI memory + storage stack," undoubtedly reaping the "super红利" (super dividends) of the AI infrastructure wave. Regarding DRAM/NAND memory chip price trends, Goldman Sachs recently revised its forecasts, now expecting 2026 price increases to far exceed its previous optimistic projections. The investment bank significantly raised its DRAM price increase forecast from approximately 150% to 250%-280% and its NAND price increase forecast from about 100% to 200%-250%. Goldman Sachs argues this is not an ordinary inventory restocking cycle but a "super supply shortage cycle" driven by unprecedented demand surge from AI computing, HBM's increasing consumption of capacity due to its extremely complex manufacturing and packaging processes, and insufficient supply elasticity for general-purpose DRAM/NAND.
The immense benefits of this memory super-cycle are directly reflected in the latest financial reports of SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. SK Hynix's recent earnings showed Q1 net profit reached 40.33 trillion won, significantly exceeding analyst expectations of 29.39 trillion won; Q1 operating profit was 37.61 trillion won, also above market expectations. The Q1 average selling price (ASP) for DRAM increased approximately 60% compared to Q4 of the previous year; the Q1 NAND ASP rose about 70% quarter-over-quarter. SK Hynix stated that continuously strong server memory demand is offsetting weakness in the PC and smartphone chip sectors and driving overall market growth. In the server chip domain, the demand base for both DRAM and NAND is expanding. SK Hynix anticipates the favorable pricing environment will persist in the short term; Q2 DRAM bit shipments are expected to grow by a high-single-digit percentage quarter-over-quarter; Q2 NAND bit shipments are projected to increase around 15% sequentially.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.'s earnings report showed Q1 revenue of 133.9 trillion won, up 69% year-over-year and 43% quarter-over-quarter. Its semiconductor division revenue reached 81.7 trillion won, an 86% sequential increase. The memory business was undoubtedly the core contributor to Samsung's Q1 performance. Statistics indicate this is the first time semiconductor division revenue exceeded 50% of the group's total revenue. The division mainly comprises memory chips and foundry businesses. In Q1, memory chip revenue was 74.8 trillion won (up 101.62% quarter-over-quarter), while foundry revenue was 6.9 trillion won (flat sequentially). Profit performance was even more impressive. Samsung's overall Q1 operating profit was 57.2 trillion won, surging 184.6% quarter-over-quarter and 756% year-over-year. The semiconductor division's operating profit in Q1 was 53.7 trillion won, compared to 16.4 trillion won in Q4 2025, meaning it more than tripled sequentially.
It is worth noting that as wage negotiations between Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and its union broke down on Wednesday, union workers plan to strike for 18 days starting May 21. If realized, this would be the first strike in Samsung's history, and potentially in the global semiconductor industry, to have a tangible impact on production and the market. Unlike the 25-day strike in July 2024 involving about 5,000 workers, this strike is expected to involve over 40,000 union members, with the union chairman even suggesting it could exceed 50,000. This represents about 64% of the total workforce (approximately 78,000 employees) in Samsung's semiconductor division. The strike could impact the already tight global memory chip supply. A large-scale strike by about 40,000 Samsung employees on April 23 led to an 18.4% drop in memory wafer capacity and a sharp 58.1% decline in foundry wafer capacity. This strike has demonstrated that even highly automated memory production lines can suffer nearly one-fifth capacity loss with 40,000 absences, while labor-intensive foundry lines can be cut by nearly 60%. If routine setup and maintenance of semiconductor equipment are suspended for an extended period, the subsequent recovery to normal operations could take twice as long. This implies that if the union proceeds with an 18-day strike, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. might need up to 36 days (over a month) to fully restore normal production momentum. This would undoubtedly severely impact Samsung and the global semiconductor supply chain.
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