SK Hynix (000660) 🔎 In-depth
KOSPI · Price as of 2026-08-06 · Updated 2026-08-09
SK Hynix makes memory semiconductors such as DRAM and NAND flash, and its profits are concentrated in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) — the stacked DRAM that sits beside AI server accelerators — where it holds the world's largest share. In the second quarter of 2026 it posted record results, with revenue of ₩79.3 trillion and operating profit of ₩60.5 trillion (a 76% operating margin), and in July it raised ₩39.9 trillion of facility funding by issuing depositary receipts on Nasdaq. What stands out right now is that earnings and cash are at all-time highs while the share price is 46% below its 52-week peak, leaving a low multiple on earnings — and behind that low multiple sit a roughly ₩1,100 trillion medium- to long-term investment plan and lingering caution about the memory cycle.
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30-second brief
Pulled directly from the computed values below — not a separately written opinion.
What do the SourceComputedEstimateReading tags mean?
Source filings and exchange data · Computed calculated from public data · Estimate our own unverified projection · Reading drafted automatically, then rule-checked. See AI & Automation.
Core valuation metric
This stock's effective sub-sector is “Memory Chips” (Semiconductors & IT Components · Semiconductors), a type typically read first through P/B.
Memory chipmakers ride the DRAM and NAND price cycle, so profits balloon in upturns and can swing to losses in downturns. That makes earnings-based multiples unreliable, so price-to-book (P/B) — the share price against the company's asset value — is the first lens.
Price against assets alone says little about where the cycle stands. Reading it together with price against this year's expected earnings shows how far profits have recovered.
This note explains how each sector is typically valued and is educational context only, not investment advice.
At-a-glance assessment financial health · growth · profitability · valuation
- Debt ratio, current ratio and interest burden all look healthy.
- Revenue rose 46.8% year over year, and the pace is slowing (3-year trend: rising).
- Most recent quarter (Q1 2026) revenue was 198.1% higher than a year earlier.
- ROE is 45.8% (controlling-interest basis). It is above the sector average.
- Operating margin is 58.6%.
- A forward P/E of 4.18x puts the price low relative to earnings.
Ownership & governance As of 2025-12-31
Largest shareholder SK Square 20.07% (corporate)
Controlling bloc incl. related parties 20.07%
With the controlling bloc holding 20%, control is maintained but the free float is relatively large.
🔎 In-depth analysis Reading
SK Hynix earns its money from memory semiconductors, the chips that store information. There are two main kinds: DRAM, which reads and writes data quickly, and NAND flash, which keeps data once the power is switched off. Profits center on high-bandwidth memory (HBM), DRAM stacked in multiple layers. HBM sits directly beside the processing chip in an AI server and moves large volumes of data at once, which makes it expensive, and the company holds the world's largest share of that market. The rest of revenue comes from conventional DRAM used in servers, PCs and mobile devices, and from NAND products such as enterprise SSDs. Production is centered on Icheon and Cheongju, and a new line is under construction in Cheongju for HBM back-end processing — the stage where dies are stacked, bonded and tested.
The latest close is ₩1,495,000 and the market capitalization is ₩1,092.1 trillion. The price sits below its 20-day moving average (₩1,763,500) and below its 60-day moving average (₩2,097,800). It is under both its short- and medium-term moving averages, so the trend looks subdued. The RSI (a supplementary indicator that gauges the strength of gains versus losses over the past 14 days on a 0-100 scale) is 40.6, a neutral level. The one-month change is -32.1%, the three-month change is -6.6%, and the position relative to the 52-week high is -48.8%. Relative strength versus the KOSPI is 85 (on a 1-99 scale, converted from returns against the index over the past year with more weight on recent performance; higher means stronger than the market). It is stronger than roughly 86% of all stocks. Over the past three months it outpaced the index by 7.5%. Chart interpretation is best done alongside trading volume and the dates on which disclosures occur.
Profitability and financial strength are at their highest levels ever. In the first half of 2026 the company generated ₩131.9 trillion of revenue and ₩98.2 trillion of operating profit, with a second-quarter operating margin of 76.3%. Note, though, that first-half net profit of ₩134.3 trillion exceeds what the business earned from operations (₩98.2 trillion). First-half pre-tax profit was ₩174.3 trillion, meaning ₩76.2 trillion came from outside operations. That amount reflects valuation and disposal gains on investment holdings rather than something that repeats every quarter, so it is better assessed separately. Because memory earnings swing sharply with the cycle, this industry is usually assessed first on P/B (price-to-book, or how many times the company's net assets the share price represents) rather than on earnings multiples. The 9.27x P/B shown on the page is calculated from net assets at the end of 2025, so it is far from current reality. Adding the ₩134.2 trillion of first-half net profit attributable to controlling shareholders and the ₩39.9 trillion of share-issue proceeds received in July, then deducting the 2025 year-end dividend (₩3,000 per share), gives net assets of about ₩292 trillion, or roughly ₩400,000 per share. Recalculated on the August 3 close, P/B comes to about 3.9x — less than half the displayed figure. Stability is also good. At the end of 2025 the debt-to-equity ratio was 46% and the current ratio 1.86x, with net debt negative — in other words, more cash than borrowings. The company reported ₩88 trillion of cash and equivalents at the end of the second quarter against ₩18.6 trillion of interest-bearing debt, leaving net cash of ₩69.4 trillion. Enterprise value (EV, market capitalization plus net debt — what it would cost to take over the whole company), recalculated on the August 3 close, is about ₩1,132 trillion, or roughly 24x 2025 operating profit. The 32.8x EV/operating profit shown on the page is based on a point when the share price was higher, so the current level has come down by that much. Free cash flow (operating cash flow less capital expenditure) was ₩24.8 trillion in 2025, about 2.2% of the current enterprise value, but with large capacity additions planned that ratio could swing considerably depending on how much is spent on facilities.
Growth is running very fast. Annual revenue rose from ₩32.8 trillion in 2023 (an operating loss of ₩7.7 trillion) to ₩66.2 trillion in 2024 and ₩97.1 trillion in 2025. Taking 2025 on its own, revenue grew 46.8%, operating profit 101.2% and net profit 116.9% year on year. 2026 is on another scale entirely. After first-quarter revenue of ₩52.6 trillion and operating profit of ₩37.6 trillion, the second quarter delivered revenue of ₩79.3 trillion (+50.9% versus the prior quarter) and operating profit of ₩60.5 trillion (+61.0%). In half a year the company has already surpassed all of last year's revenue; against the same quarter a year earlier, revenue is 3.6x and operating profit 6.6x. The driver is unmistakable. AI infrastructure spending pushed demand for HBM and high-capacity server DRAM ahead of supply, and memory prices climbed in steps. The company began mass-production shipments of HBM4 in the second quarter and said it would ramp output in earnest in the second half; it has also pulled forward the mass-production schedule at the M15X fab and aims to convert about 50% of domestic capacity to 321-layer NAND by year-end. On that basis, the third quarter looks likely to deliver higher revenue and operating profit than the second as expanded HBM4 volumes combine with high-value shipments deferred from the second quarter, while the natural picture for the fourth quarter is continued shipment growth with a slower pace of price increases. Layering that second-half trajectory on top of confirmed first-half results gives a P/E on this year's expected earnings (how many times one year's earnings the share price represents) of 24.83x. That is not a rough estimate obtained by multiplying the first quarter by four; it is built up quarter by quarter from price, shipment and capacity assumptions.
This summer's filings read along three lines. The first is results. The July 29 preliminary second-quarter disclosure confirmed revenue of ₩79.3 trillion, operating profit of ₩60.5 trillion and net profit of ₩93.9 trillion. The second is fundraising. On July 10 the company listed depositary receipts (ADRs, securities that let overseas investors trade a domestic stock indirectly) on Nasdaq in the United States and issued 17.79 million new shares; payment was completed on July 14 and ₩39.8905 trillion actually came in. The proceeds are earmarked entirely for facilities, and because the new shares equal about 2.5% of the previous share count, dilution itself is limited. The third is where that money goes. On June 29 the company filed a medium- to long-term investment plan of roughly ₩1,100 trillion in total — about ₩600 trillion for Yongin, about ₩100 trillion for Cheongju and about ₩400 trillion for the southwestern region — and on July 22 it resolved to raise the construction investment for the Cheongju P&T7 fab to ₩7.0931 trillion. Separately, on June 26 the company disclosed a serious industrial accident (one death while under medical care), with a Ministry of Employment and Labor investigation to follow, and on July 22 it filed a clarification stating that it had not agreed to acquire an overseas semiconductor plant.
Start with the supporting points. For as long as AI infrastructure spending continues, SK Hynix earns the most from its position as the leader in HBM. A second-quarter operating margin of 76.3% and net cash of ₩69.4 trillion are the result. The 3.7x P/E on this year's expected earnings is about a third of the median across all stocks covered on this site (10.7x) and below Samsung Electronics (6.8x), which rides the same memory cycle. Relative to earnings, the shares sit in undervalued territory. The same holds on an asset basis: recalculated for first-half profit and the share-issue proceeds, P/B of about 3.9x is far below the 9.27x shown on the page. The cautions are just as clear. First-half net profit includes sizable valuation and disposal gains on investment holdings; strip those out and the multiple on recurring earnings rises, while the same line item could turn into a loss in the second half. The roughly ₩1,100 trillion medium- to long-term investment plan builds supply capability, but it also raises future depreciation and funding needs — which means, as with this ₩39.9 trillion raise, that repeated fundraising could increase the share count further. Memory is heavily exposed to the price cycle, so if supply catches up or the pace of AI investment slows, prices and profits adjust downward quickly together. In sum, the multiples on both earnings and assets are clearly low, but the balanced reading is that those low multiples also embed the market's doubts about how long the current level of profit can last.
🔎 Valuation vs peers Undervalued
Within Korea, Samsung Electronics is effectively the only direct comparison producing DRAM and NAND at scale; Hanmi Semiconductor, which makes HBM process equipment, and DB HiTek, an 8-inch foundry, are included as positional reference rather than for absolute valuation comparison, since their business structures differ.
| Peer | P/E | P/B | ROE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung Electronics | 30.45x | 2.84x | 17.57% |
| Hanmi Semiconductor | 89.30x | 30.05x | 28.04% |
| DB HiTek | 15.05x | 1.69x | 13.04% |
Start with where the shares sit against comparable companies. Samsung Electronics, which rides the same memory cycle, trades at 6.8x this year's expected earnings, while SK Hynix is at 3.7x — about half that level. Against the median across all stocks covered on this site (10.7x on expected earnings), it is roughly a third. Hanmi Semiconductor, which makes HBM equipment (P/E 90.2x, P/B 28.0x), and DB HiTek, an 8-inch foundry (P/E 13.7x, P/B 1.6x), have different business profiles, so a simple comparison is difficult. Next, the premium and discount factors. Leadership in HBM, a 76.3% operating margin and ₩69.4 trillion of net cash argue for a premium. Working the other way are earnings that swing heavily with the cycle, first-half net profit that includes hard-to-repeat valuation and disposal gains on investment holdings, and roughly ₩1,100 trillion of announced capacity additions that leave a funding burden ahead. Finally, the limits of backward-looking measures. The 24.83x P/E and 9.27x P/B shown on the page use end-2025 financials, so they cannot capture a company that has produced ₩98.2 trillion of operating profit in half a year. Recalculating P/B — the first measure to check in this industry — on the latest net assets gives about 3.9x, and the multiple on expected earnings, reflecting confirmed first-half results and the second-half trajectory, is 3.7x. Low on both an earnings and an asset basis, the shares look undervalued. That said, the multiple on recurring earnings excluding investment gains and losses is higher than this, and 3.9x on an asset basis is not as low as the earnings multiple — both points belong in the picture.
Price history Close · MA20 · MA60
The latest close is ₩1,495,000 and the market capitalization is ₩1,092.1 trillion. The price sits below its 20-day moving average (₩1,763,500) and below its 60-day moving average (₩2,097,800). It is under both its short- and medium-term moving averages, so the trend looks subdued. The RSI (a supplementary indicator that gauges the strength of gains versus losses over the past 14 days on a 0-100 scale) is 40.6, a neutral level. The one-month change is -32.1%, the three-month change is -6.6%, and the position relative to the 52-week high is -48.8%. Relative strength versus the KOSPI is 85 (on a 1-99 scale, converted from returns against the index over the past year with more weight on recent performance; higher means stronger than the market). It is stronger than roughly 86% of all stocks. Over the past three months it outpaced the index by 7.5%. Chart interpretation is best done alongside trading volume and the dates on which disclosures occur.
Relative performance stock vs index · start = 100
Excess return vs index · 3M +7.52% / 6M +41.60% / 12M +193.26%
Key metrics Computed vs whole-market median
Valuation
The P/E of 24.83x is above the whole-market median (12.97x). The P/B of 6.65x is above the whole-market median (0.84x). That said, this P/E is based on last year's (trailing) results. With recent quarterly earnings up sharply, the trailing P/E can look higher than it really is, so a precise read is best done on this year's expected (forward) earnings.
Enterprise value (EV)
EV = market cap + net debt. It reflects cash and debt, so it captures the real cost of the whole business that market cap alone misses; lower multiples are cheaper relative to earnings or sales.
Intrinsic value (DCF estimate) Estimate
Model output — not a price target. This is what the formula returns under the assumptions below, not a view on where the share price should go.
DCF (discounted cash flow) estimate — discount rate 11.0%, initial growth 10.0%→terminal 2.0%, 10-yr forecast, free-cash-flow basis, forward earnings power normalized 3x. A reference range that shifts materially with assumptions.
Profitability & financials
Return on equity (ROE) is 45.8%, above the whole-market average (3.0%). The operating margin is 58.6%. The debt ratio is 35.6%, so the financial structure is stable.
Growth FY2025 · annual report (consolidated)
| Item | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $23.0B | $46.5B | $68.2B | +46.76% ↓ slower |
| Operating profit | -$5.4B | $16.5B | $33.2B | +101.16% |
| Net profit | -$6.4B | $13.9B | $30.2B | +116.89% |
| 5-year | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $30.2B | $31.3B | $23.0B | $46.5B | $68.2B |
| Operating profit | $8.7B | $4.8B | -$5.4B | $16.5B | $33.2B |
| Net profit | $6.7B | $1.6B | -$6.4B | $13.9B | $30.2B |
| Revenue CAGR | 4-yr avg 22.60% | ||||
Revenue rose 46.8% year over year (2023 ₩32.8 trillion → 2024 ₩66.2 trillion → 2025 ₩97.1 trillion), and the three-year trend is 'rising'. That said, the pace of growth slowed from the prior year. Operating profit rose 101.2% year over year. Over the 5 years on record, revenue compound annual growth (CAGR) is 22.6%. The two-year revenue CAGR is 72.2%. In the most recent quarter (Q1 2026), revenue was 198.1% higher than the same period a year earlier.
Latest quarterly results Source Q1 2026 · vs year-ago
Technical indicators Computed
What stands out
- P/E and P/B are both low versus peers, so the price looks inexpensive relative to earnings and assets.
- ROE of 45.8% points to solid profitability.
- Revenue grew 46.8% year over year, a sign of growth.
- The balance sheet is stable in terms of debt and liquidity.
Points to watch
- The figures shown are based on the last annual report as of the writing date, so it is best to review the latest quarterly results and filings alongside them.
Recent news & events searched · sourced
- 2026-07-29EarningsFair disclosure of preliminary consolidated Q2 2026 results — revenue ₩79.3187 trillion, operating profit ₩60.5426 trillion (a 76.3% operating margin), net profit ₩93.9226 trillionRevenue +50.9% and operating profit +61.0% versus the prior quarter; revenue +256.8% and operating profit +557.2% versus a year earlier. First-half totals of ₩131.8950 trillion of revenue, ₩98.1529 trillion of operating profit and ₩134.2685 trillion of net profit mean the company surpassed its full-year 2025 revenue in half a year. The gap between first-half pre-tax profit of ₩174.3252 trillion and operating profit shows how large non-operating income was, and that deserves separate attention. Source
- 2026-07-15FilingVoluntary disclosure of the share issuance outcome — 17.79 million new shares for actual proceeds of ₩39.8905 trillion, payment date July 14, 2026The structure involved a third-party allocation of new shares to an overseas depositary (Citibank, N.A.), which then issued US depositary receipts against them. The amount reflects total ADR offering proceeds of USD 26.507 billion converted at the payment-date exchange rate of ₩1,504.90, slightly below the ₩40.0231 trillion expected when the issuance was approved (at an assumed ₩1,509.90). The actual issue price works out at roughly ₩2.24 million per share. Source
- 2026-07-13FilingMaterial event report (listing of shares on an overseas securities market) — depositary receipts listed on Nasdaq in the United StatesWith the Nasdaq listing on July 10, 17.79 million underlying shares were newly issued, lifting shares outstanding from 712,702,365 to 730,492,365, an increase of about 2.5%. The proceeds are earmarked entirely for facilities and will fund the large capacity expansion plan. Source
- 2026-07-22FilingNew facility investment approved — ₩7.0931 trillion for construction of Cheongju P&T7 (5.88% of shareholders' equity)The construction investment was raised to support higher output and to shorten the cleanroom opening schedule. The investment period runs from November 26, 2025 to December 31, 2032, and the purpose is to secure Cheongju production capacity for global AI memory demand. It is an example of the medium- to long-term investment plan moving into actual execution. Source
- 2026-06-29FilingFair disclosure of future business and management plans — a medium- to long-term investment strategy with expected spending of roughly ₩1,100 trillionAbout ₩600 trillion for the Yongin semiconductor cluster (phased investment after completion of a fourth fab by 2033), about ₩100 trillion for the Cheongju production base (new fabs and stronger HBM back-end advanced packaging capability), and about ₩400 trillion for the southwestern cluster (site acquisition and fab construction). It is a plan that builds supply capability and, at the same time, the basis for future funding and depreciation burdens. The company said the figures are a guideline to aid understanding and that it will file further disclosures when the board approves each step. Source
- 2026-07-22UpdateClarification of a market rumor and press reports — no overseas semiconductor plant acquisition has been pursued or decidedResponding to coverage of an acquisition of overseas semiconductor production facilities, the company said it reviews a range of investment and acquisition opportunities but has neither pursued nor decided on the acquisition of the site and fab in question. Source
- 2026-06-26UpdateDisclosure of a serious industrial accident — one death while under medical care following approval of an occupational illness claim (March 5, 2025)A Ministry of Employment and Labor site investigation and a cause analysis are scheduled. Whether the case qualifies as a serious accident under the Occupational Safety and Health Act has not been confirmed, and the company said it would file a corrective disclosure once that is established. Source
Figure cross-check computed ↔ external
| Metric | Computed | External | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Latest quarterly results (Q2 2026) | base 2026 1 | 2026 2 revenue 79 ₩318.7 billion / operating profit 60 ₩542.6 billion / net profit 93 ₩922.6 billion, revenue 131 ₩895.0 billion·operating profit 98 ₩152.9 billion·net profit 134 ₩268.5 billion | Mismatch | link |
| Precise recalculation of the sub-sector's key metric (P/B) | PBR 6.65x | net profit ₩134.15 trillion 7 14 ₩39.89 trillion 2025 approx. ₩292.4 trillion, 730,492,365 approx. ₩400,300 → PBR approx. 3.9x | Mismatch | link |
| Shares outstanding and the actual size of the share issuance | base 730,492,365 | 712,702,365 + 17,790,000 = 730,492,365. 39 ₩890.5 billion, 40 ₩23.1 billion | Confirmed | link |
| Whether the company is in a net cash position | base -₩12.41 trillion | 2 ₩88 trillion, ₩18.6 trillion → ₩69.4 trillion | Confirmed | link |
| Shareholders' equity (consolidated) | base ₩120.52 trillion | 120 ₩666.8 billion | Confirmed | link |
| P/E on expected 2026 earnings | PER 3.7x(self-estimate) | — | Unverified | link |
| Full sweep of the latest regulatory filings (through today) | base 2026-06-09 | 2026-06-16~2026-07-31 7 31 · , 7 29 2 | Mismatch | link |
Recent filings Source
- 2026-06-09OwnershipOfficers'/major-shareholders' holdings report
- 2026-06-09OwnershipOfficers'/major-shareholders' holdings report
- 2026-06-09OwnershipOfficers'/major-shareholders' holdings report
- 2026-06-09OwnershipOfficers'/major-shareholders' holdings report
- 2026-06-09OwnershipOfficers'/major-shareholders' holdings report
- 2026-06-09OwnershipOwnership-change filing
- 2026-05-29Corporate governance report
- 2026-05-29Large-business-group status disclosure
- 2026-05-29Amended filing
- 2026-05-15OwnershipOfficers'/major-shareholders' holdings report
- 2026-05-15PeriodicQuarterly report
- 2026-05-13TreasuryMaterial-fact report
📖 Plain-language glossary — expand if you are new to this
- P/E
- How many times a year's net profit the price is worth (lower is cheaper relative to earnings). The P/E here is on trailing (last full-year) results; for companies whose earnings swing fast (memory chips and other cyclicals/high-growth), a forward P/E on this year's expected earnings is more accurate.
- P/B
- Price relative to net assets (equity). Around 1x means it trades near book value; below 1x means below book.
- P/S
- Price relative to a year's revenue — useful for growth companies with thin earnings.
- Net debt / EV
- Net debt = interest-bearing debt − cash. Negative means more cash than debt (net cash). EV (enterprise value) = market cap + net debt, closer to what it would cost to buy the whole business.
- EV/EBIT · EV/EBITDA · EV/Sales
- Enterprise value against operating profit (EBIT), EBITDA, or revenue. Unlike P/E these reflect debt and cash; lower is cheaper relative to earnings power or sales.
- FCF / FCF yield
- Free cash flow = operating cash − capex, the cash actually left over. FCF yield = FCF ÷ market cap; higher means more cash generated per unit of market value.
- Intrinsic value (DCF)
- Future free cash flow (or, for some capex-heavy but profitable names, forecast earnings) discounted to today to estimate per-share value. Because it shifts a lot with the discount-rate and growth assumptions, it is shown as a bear/base/bull range, and the basis and assumptions are disclosed in one line beneath it.
- ROE
- How much profit the company earns in a year on its equity (%). Higher means better returns on capital.
- EPS / BPS
- Earnings per share / net assets (book value) per share.
- Operating / net margin
- Profit left from the core business / final profit after tax and interest, per unit of revenue.
- Debt ratio
- Debt relative to equity (%). Higher means more reliance on borrowing (norms vary by sector).
- Current ratio
- Assets convertible to cash within a year against debt due within a year. Above 100% leaves some short-term headroom.
- Interest coverage
- How many times operating profit covers the interest owed. Below 1x means operating profit alone struggles to cover interest.
- Dividend yield / payout ratio
- The year's dividend as a % of today's price / the share of earnings paid out as dividends.
- Revenue CAGR
- Multi-year growth expressed as a single yearly average (compound annual growth rate).
- RSI (short-term signal)
- Whether recent price action is overheated or beaten down. Above 70 is overbought, below 30 oversold.
- MA20 / MA60 (moving averages)
- The 20- and 60-day average price. Price above them signals a firmer short-term trend.
- vs 52-week high
- How far below the past year's peak the price sits now (%).
All figures are for reference only; how they read varies by sector and over time.
Sources: Korea FSC market-price API (data.go.kr), OpenDART, KRX/KIND — public data only.
Bong Stocks presents public-data-based information for reference only. It is not investment advice and contains no target prices, ratings, or buy/sell recommendations. Verify independently before making any decision.