SK Hynix Rides AI Boom to Record Margins and $14 Billion IPO, But Broadcom’s Shadow Sends Stock Tumbling 10%

SK Hynix is living two realities at once. The memory chip maker just posted an unprecedented 72% operating margin, its quarterly revenue topped 50 trillion won for the first time, and it has a $14 billion New York listing in the works. Yet on Friday, the stock cratered nearly 10% to 2,070,000 won, dragged down by a gloomy forecast from US peer Broadcom that infected the entire semiconductor sector. The weekly loss stands at 11.27%, a sharp reminder that even dominant AI plays are not immune to sentiment shifts.

The rout erased some of the year’s spectacular gains — the stock still trades 205.76% higher since January, though it sits 14% below the all-time high of 2,407,000 won set on June 2. Technicians are eyeing the 50-day moving average near 1.46 million won as a crucial support level for the uptrend to hold.

Capacity Doubling Starts With M15X, Then Yongin

While markets fretted over Broadcom’s outlook, SK Hynix is pressing ahead with an aggressive expansion plan that aims to nearly double its DRAM wafer capacity from roughly 550,000 per month today to about 1 million by 2030-2031. The first tangible milestone comes in the second half of 2026, when the M15X fab in Cheongju starts production at an initial 40,000 wafers a month. By the following year, that site should be running at around 80,000 wafers.

The bigger prize is the Yongin semiconductor cluster south of Seoul. Equipment installation in the first clean room of the first fab has been pulled forward to February 2027, four months earlier than the previous target of May 2027. That fab is divided into six clean rooms, each adding 60,000 wafer starts per month. Subsequent phases will follow every six months, putting the first Yongin fab on track to hit 360,000 wafers monthly by the first half of 2030. The staggered ramp aligns with SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won’s repeated warnings of an AI memory shortage lasting at least until 2030.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying SK Hynix?

A $14 Billion Wall Street Entry

To help fund the buildout, SK Hynix plans to issue US depositary receipts before year-end, potentially raising up to $14 billion from American institutional investors. Management has floated the idea internally, and shareholder reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. The fresh capital will be channeled directly into expanding production capacity, with a clear emphasis on high-bandwidth memory for AI data centers.

That focus is already paying off. In the first quarter of 2026, SK Hynix controlled 58% of the global HBM market, according to Counterpoint Research. Its entire HBM output for 2026 is already sold out. The combination of surging contract prices for DRAM and NAND flash and the company’s pricing power in HBM has pushed profit margins to levels the industry has never seen — 72% operating margin is a genuine super-cycle anomaly.

Next Milestones and Unfinished Business

The next concrete catalyst is the M15X production start in the second half of 2026. After that, all eyes turn to Yongin. If the phased ramp proceeds without major delays, SK Hynix will lock in its dominant HBM position for years to come. The stock may have taken a bruising from Broadcom’s warning, but the underlying machinery — record margins, a fully sold-out premium product line, and a $14 billion IPO to bankroll expansion — remains firmly in motion.