SK Hynix shares rose more than 2% in premarket trading Friday, reaching $166.68, as investors reacted to a series of bullish developments from the South Korean memory-chip maker. The gains came amid broader strength in chip-linked stocks, with Nasdaq futures up 0.52% and S&P 500 futures up 0.32%.
The company this week unveiled a stock buyback plan worth roughly $29 billion, calling it the largest treasury share cancellation ever conducted by a South Korean listed company. SK Hynix also said it would return more than 50% of free cash flow to shareholders, a slight upgrade from its previous target of within the 50% range.
Samsung Electronics responded Friday with an even larger capital-return program. Its board approved a 2026 shareholder-return plan estimated at between $64.5 billion and $78.9 billion, which Samsung said was five times the size of its previous record payout in 2020 and the largest ever by a Korean company.
J.P. Morgan analyst Jay Kwon expects SK Hynix could go further when it reports third-quarter results. Kwon estimates the company could commit to at least 180 trillion won, or just under $130 billion, in additional shareholder returns through 2027. That would represent about 50% of accumulated free cash flow for 2025 to 2027 after accounting for existing commitments.
On the operational side, Reuters reported that SK Hynix is weighing plans for a new memory-chip manufacturing facility in Japan’s Miyagi prefecture. The potential investment could run into tens of trillions of won. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won recently visited the Miyagi area. If the project moves forward, it would be the first large-scale semiconductor manufacturing investment in Japan by a South Korean chipmaker. Miyagi is one of Japan’s designated semiconductor industry hubs, making it strategically important for capacity expansion.
SK Hynix stock carries a consensus Buy rating across 10 analysts, with an average price target of $245.50. Recent initiations include Wolfe Research and RBC Capital both setting Outperform ratings with $200 targets, while Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage at Overweight with a $300 target.
