By Adam Clark
SK Hynix reported surging quarterly profit on the back of a memory-chip shortage that could last for years. But its American rival Micron Technology was sinking early Thursday.
South Korea's SK Hynix reported a 398% increase in first-quarter net profit to a record 40.35 trillion won, ($27.28 billion), outstripping analyst expectations. Revenue nearly tripled to 52.58 trillion won.
However, after huge run ups in memory-chip stocks, investors didn't appear to be moved. SK Hynix gave up initial gains to close up 0.2% in local trading while Micron was down 1.4%. Both stocks have risen more than sixfold in the past 12 months.
The bigger picture still looks positive. SK Hynix executives told analysts that demand for high-bandwidth memory -- a crucial component for artificial-intelligence chips from the likes of Nvidia -- outstrips current supply capacity for the next three years.
SK Hynix is investing to meet that need and said it would significantly increase its capital expenditure this year. While that might raise eventual concerns of creating too much future production, little new manufacturing capacity is expected until mid-2027 at the earliest.
Write to Adam Clark at adam.clark@barrons.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 23, 2026 07:34 ET (11:34 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Comments