SK Hynix Inc. Dominates HBM Market With Record Profits

SK Hynix Inc. reported a dominant 58% market share in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for the first quarter of 2026. The company's second-quarter financial results showed revenue of 79.3 trillion Korean won, approximately $55 billion, marking a 257% year-over-year increase. Operating profit rose 557% to 60.5 trillion won, resulting in an operating margin of 76%.

To maintain its growth trajectory, the company finalized long-term agreements with roughly 10 customers and initiated mass shipments of its HBM4 generation in the second quarter. Parallel to these developments, SK Group and Nvidia Corporation announced a partnership valued at over $500 billion, which secures a long-term AI memory supply agreement for SK Hynix Inc.

Despite these financial gains, the company's stock remains priced under four times forward earnings estimates. This valuation reflects investor concerns regarding the cyclicality of the memory industry and increasing competition from Samsung Electronics, which also began shipping HBM4 chips in 2026.