Revenue passes 100 trillion won
SK hynix reported third-quarter revenue of 104.6155 trillion won, operating profit of 83.3338 trillion won and net profit of 39.7756 trillion won, the company said. Operating margin was 80% and net margin 38%. Revenue and operating profit were up 32% and 38% on the previous quarter, and quarterly revenue passed 100 trillion won for the first time in the company's history.
Cash and cash equivalents stood at 114.5 trillion won at the end of the quarter, 26.5 trillion won higher than three months earlier, while borrowings fell 2.8 trillion won to 15.8 trillion won, leaving net cash of 98.7 trillion won.
HBM4 shipments begin in earnest
DRAM sales were lifted by a sharp increase in server DDR5, with HBM4 shipments starting in earnest, while NAND growth came from 321-layer TLC eSSD and other high-value-added products for data centres. SK hynix expects HBM4 to pass HBM3E in both shipment volume and revenue in the fourth quarter and will run its M15X facility at maximum capacity by the end of the year.
Contracts cover half of 2027-28 capacity
Long-term agreements with 14 major customers, including global cloud service providers, now cover more than 50% of total production capacity for 2027 and 2028. The contracts typically run five years and include a mechanism that reflects market conditions within a price range agreed with customers, the company said. SK hynix expects demand to exceed supply through 2030, citing the technical difficulty of leading-edge processes and the time needed to build new facilities, and said investment will rise significantly next year as Yongin Phase 1 enters full operation.
About 100 trillion won for shareholders
For fiscal 2026 the company will execute shareholder returns of approximately 100 trillion won, made up of cash dividends of 30 trillion won or more and at least 60 trillion won in buybacks and cancellations, including the 40 trillion won announced in August. The board approved a third-quarter cash dividend of 14 trillion won and a 20 trillion won buyback; 10 trillion won of the repurchased shares will be cancelled in full and about 10 trillion won will be used for employee compensation. The quarterly dividend is 20,000 won per share, comprising a 10,000 won payment and a 10,000 won special dividend that shares gains from the Kioxia investment.
