SK Hynix reported third-quarter operating profit of 83.33 trillion won ($62.8 billion), up 557.2 percent from a year earlier, and announced an additional 60 trillion won in shareholder returns on 28 October, Yonhap News Agency reported. The South Korean memory-chip maker reported the earnings in a regulatory filing covering July to September. Its new return plan follows a 40 trillion won programme completed the previous week.
Key points
- Operating profit of 83.33 trillion won exceeded the 76.7 trillion won LSEG SmartEstimate.
- Revenue reached 104.61 trillion won, up 327.9 percent from a year earlier.
- SK Hynix announced a further 60 trillion won shareholder return after completing a 40 trillion won buyback.
- The company suspended plans to list its US subsidiary Solidigm on 23 October.
SK Hynix beats the 76.7 trillion won estimate
The operating result exceeded the 76.7 trillion won LSEG SmartEstimate, which gives greater weight to analysts whose forecasts have been more consistently accurate, Reuters reported. The result was also more than seven times the 11.4 trillion won operating profit Reuters reported for the year-earlier quarter.
Revenue rose 327.9 percent from a year earlier to 104.61 trillion won, while net profit increased 215.7 percent to a record 39.77 trillion won. SK Hynix said quarterly revenue and operating profit had set records for six consecutive quarters, beginning in the second quarter of 2025.
The company attributed the latest results to higher prices for key products amid growing demand for AI memory, alongside its position in higher-value products. It said it would accelerate efforts to expand production capacity and improve its products. SK Hynix supplies high-bandwidth memory for AI servers and data centres, where infrastructure demand has supported memory-chip prices.
The 60 trillion won shareholder plan
The additional 60 trillion won plan comes after SK Hynix bought back 40 trillion won of its shares, The Korea Times reported on 26 October. The newspaper said the buyback finished about a month ahead of schedule and that the company planned to cancel the shares.
SK Hynix pledged in August to return at least 50 percent of cumulative free cash flow generated between 2025 and 2027 to shareholders, according to The Korea Times. At the time, the company said it would consider special dividends as well as further buybacks and share cancellations. Hana Securities analyst Kim Rok-ho estimated before the earnings announcement that SK Hynix had at least 30 trillion won available for additional returns based on free cash flow.
The return policy had drawn attention alongside the company’s share price. SK Hynix shares declined from 1,693,000 won on 1 September to 1,263,000 won on 23 October. Over the same period, Samsung Electronics shares declined 18.2 percent, from 261,000 won to 213,500 won.
Samsung’s policy and the Solidigm decision
Samsung, the other chipmaker in that share-price comparison, set a 2026 shareholder distribution of between 90 trillion won and 110 trillion won within its policy to pay out 50 percent of free cash flow from 2024 to 2026. Its 8 October earnings guidance estimated third-quarter revenue of 195 trillion won and operating profit of 107.4 trillion won.
SK Hynix has also changed course on a possible listing of Solidigm, its US subsidiary. SK Hynix dropped its plan for a Solidigm US IPO, which had been valued at up to $150 billion. Reports had put a potential Solidigm offering as early as 2027, according to Yonhap.
SK Hynix suspended its review of the listing on 23 October, citing market conditions, Yonhap reported. The news agency said shareholder objections and scrutiny by regulators reflected fears that minority investors might lose out if Solidigm floated on its own. It also reported a decline of nearly 30 percent in SK Hynix shares in the three months after the company released its second-quarter results.
