SK Hynix, the Nvidia supplier, reported on Wednesday 28 October 2026 a more than seven-fold rise in quarterly operating profit to a record high, on AI infrastructure demand driving up memory chip prices.

Record operating profit

Operating profit was 83.3 trillion won for July to September, compared with 11.4 trillion won a year earlier, beating the 76.7 trillion won LSEG SmartEstimate. Quarterly revenue rose 328% to 104.6 trillion won. Net profit more than tripled to 39.776 trillion won, from 12.598 trillion won a year earlier, but fell short of the 61.418 trillion won FactSet-compiled consensus, a different measure from operating profit.

Shareholder returns and sold-out chips

The company will return about 100 trillion won, about $75 billion, to shareholders this year: cash dividends of more than 30 trillion won and share repurchases and cancellations of more than 60 trillion won, including 40 trillion won announced in August. It will return most of the gain from its investment in Japanese peer Kioxia to shareholders through a special dividend as part of its third-quarter and full-year payouts.

SK Hynix said it has sold out of HBM and DRAM chips until 2029, that HBM demand was double what it can supply, and that a chip shortage is likely to continue through 2030. Its shares rallied as much as 9.4% in morning trade in Seoul on 28 October.

Sources: Reuters and Wall Street Journal.