SK Hynix posts record Q2 profit, shares tumble on missed forecasts

SK Hynix Q2 2026 earnings record profit AI memory demand share price drop

South Korean memory‑chip maker SK Hynix announced second‑quarter 2026 results that set new company records. Revenue rose 257 % year‑on‑year to 79.32 trillion won and operating profit jumped 557 % to 60.54 trillion won, giving an operating margin of 76 %. Net profit reached 93.92 trillion won, a 1,242 % increase.

The results were driven by strong demand for AI‑focused high‑bandwidth memory, but they fell short of analysts’ expectations of 84 trillion won in revenue and 64 trillion won in operating profit. The Korean KOSPI index slid about 6 % to 5,663.2 points and SK Hynix shares fell between 9 % and 19 % after the announcement. The company also said its 2026 capital‑expenditure plan would rise to more than 40 trillion won to expand AI‑memory capacity.

The mixed performance sparked a sell‑off in South Korean chip stocks and heightened concerns about AI‑related spending and competition from Chinese memory makers.

Entities: AI · AI high‑bandwidth memory market · AI memory (HBM) market · KOSPI · KOSPI · Nvidia · Nvidia Corp. · SK Hynix · SK Hynix Inc. · South Korea · 智原 (ZhiYuan Technology) · 王國雍

Claims

What the coverage asserts, and how well corroborated each claim is across sources.

[● 2 SOURCES] SK Hynix shares fell about 9.4 % after the earnings release. (f61d03e7-aca4-47ef-94e1-754cf66de480)
[● 3 SOURCES] SK Hynix Q2 revenue increased 257 % to 79.32 trillion won. (f61d03e7-aca4-47ef-94e1-754cf66de480, b77fddf3-7629-4cca-9f8c-e313bcf90b52)
[● 5 SOURCES] South Korea’s KOSPI index fell 6 % to 5,663.2 points. (f61d03e7-aca4-47ef-94e1-754cf66de480, 224343b1-b6ef-4f78-b6ae-1fea2325a7a4)
[● 3 SOURCES] SK Hynix Q2 operating profit rose six‑fold to 60.54 trillion won. (f61d03e7-aca4-47ef-94e1-754cf66de480, b77fddf3-7629-4cca-9f8c-e313bcf90b52)
[● 2 SOURCES] Japan’s Nikkei 225 index dropped 1 % to 61,724 points. (f61d03e7-aca4-47ef-94e1-754cf66de480, 224343b1-b6ef-4f78-b6ae-1fea2325a7a4)
[○ 1 SOURCE] China is developing a domestic deep‑ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machine that could challenge ASML’s market position. (5d907a21-cbc4-4ce0-b156-052fc8658034)
[● 2 SOURCES] Oil prices rose over 3 % amid renewed inflation and interest‑rate concerns. (224343b1-b6ef-4f78-b6ae-1fea2325a7a4, 5d907a21-cbc4-4ce0-b156-052fc8658034)
[○ 1 SOURCE] A magnitude‑7.1 earthquake struck Kumamoto, cutting power to over 36,000 homes and halting production at three Toyota plants and a Honda motorcycle factory. (f61d03e7-aca4-47ef-94e1-754cf66de480)
[○ 1 SOURCE] The New Taiwan dollar fell below 32.5 per US dollar, reaching a low of 32.528, the weakest level in more than a year and a half. (f7023354-169d-4426-a548-6b3f2313d1b8)
[○ 1 SOURCE] The New Taiwan dollar fell below NT$32.5 per US dollar, touching a 1.5‑year low of 32.528. (supporting_article_ids)
[○ 1 SOURCE] China is developing a domestic deep‑ultraviolet lithography machine that could challenge ASML’s market position. (supporting_article_ids)
[● 3 SOURCES] Revenue and operating profit fell short of consensus estimates (84 trillion won revenue, 64 trillion won operating profit). (Analyst consensus cited by SK Hynix reports)