Samsung Electronics shares fell 7% to ₩249,750 on Wednesday as a broad semiconductor selloff hit Asian markets, while rival SK Hynix staged a premarket rebound after unveiling a record 40 trillion won ($28.6 billion) share buyback and cancellation program.
The KOSPI dropped more than 6%, prompting the Korea Exchange to activate its sell-side sidecar mechanism and temporarily halt program trading. SK Hynix's US-listed ADRs had closed down 9.2% at $155.62 on Tuesday, but recovered to roughly $161.53 in premarket action Wednesday, up 3.8%.
The selloff was driven by renewed U.S.-Iran tensions and a standoff in the Strait of Hormuz, which pushed crude oil higher, lifted Treasury yields and pressured high-multiple technology stocks globally. Reports that Washington asked South Korea to make memory-chip manufacturing part of a planned $350 billion U.S. investment package added uncertainty, though Seoul denied the specifics.
SK Hynix said its board approved repurchasing and cancelling about 24.07 million shares, or 3.3% of total issued shares, beginning Aug. 20. The company also raised its shareholder-return target, now planning to return more than 50% of cumulative free cash flow between 2025 and 2027 through buybacks, cancellations and dividends. SK Hynix ended the second quarter with 69.4 trillion won in net cash after record revenue of 79.3 trillion won and operating profit of 60.5 trillion won. Revenue jumped 257% year over year, while operating profit surged 557%. SK Hynix also began mass shipments of HBM4 during the second quarter and plans to ramp production in the second half of 2026.
Separately, Samsung has raised advanced contract chipmaking prices by up to 15% for new orders, with SF4 and SF5 process nodes seeing the steepest increases. Samsung produced just 7% of global foundry revenue in Q1 2026 compared with more than 70% for TSMC, but tight capacity has given Samsung rare pricing power. "As TSMC faces tight capacity and raises prices, customers are shifting to rivals such as Samsung and Intel, prompting Samsung to raise its prices as well," said Lee Min-hee, analyst at BNK Investment & Securities. Samsung's SF4 line at its Pyeongtaek plant has run at full capacity since late last year, serving Qualcomm and producing base dies for Samsung's own HBM chips. In July, Samsung announced a chip production deal with Broadcom, while Nvidia, Tesla and Apple have also been linked to Samsung manufacturing. Google is in talks to use Samsung's SF4 process, according to a source familiar with the pricing changes. The foundry unit, loss-making since 2022, could turn profitable as early as next year if pricing holds.
