SK Hynix shares surged nearly 7% on Tuesday, propelling South Korea’s KOSPI index above the 8,000 mark for the first time ever. The rally was ignited by Nvidia’s fiscal first-quarter results, which sent shockwaves through the memory chip sector.
Nvidia reported revenue of $81.6 billion, up 85% year-on-year, with data centre revenue climbing 92% to $75.2 billion. CEO Jensen Huang declared demand had “gone parabolic,” a signal that directly benefits SK Hynix as a critical supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips used in AI accelerators.
SK Hynix’s own fundamentals reinforced the bullish narrative. First-quarter 2026 revenue reached 52.58 trillion won, while operating profit soared 405% year-on-year to 37.61 trillion won, delivering an operating margin of 72%. The company says client HBM requests over the next three years already exceed its production capacity. Analysts quickly raised targets: UBS lifted its target price to 1.7 million won, Mirae Asset Securities to 3.2 million won, and SK Securities floated a 3 million won bull case.
Memory pricing data added further conviction. TrendForce projects DRAM contract prices to rise 58–63% in Q2 2026 and NAND flash prices to jump 70–75%, signaling genuine supply tightness. Alongside the earnings news, SK Hynix launched its iHBM thermal management technology, which reduces thermal resistance by 30% by integrating cooling elements into the Die-to-Die Physical Layer. Senior VP Kangwook Lee said the solution “combines memory design capabilities with advanced packaging technology” for next-generation AI servers.
The KOSPI has become a concentrated bet on AI infrastructure, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix accounting for 44% of the index’s value. The benchmark was already up 75% for 2026 after a 76% gain in 2025, and trading volumes remain heavily skewed toward the two semiconductor giants.
