SK Hynix Q3 profit beats expectations, vows $75 bln in shareholder returns

Investing.com– SK Hynix clocked a stronger-than-expected third-quarter operating profit on Wednesday, with the South Korean memory chip giant outlining plans to return a total 100 trillion won ($75.5 billion) to shareholders this year.

Shares of the company jumped nearly 8% to 1,446,000 won in Seoul trade.

SK Hynix’s operating profit for the three months to September 30 jumped 632% year-on-year to 83.33 trillion won, handily beating Bloomberg estimates of 77.5 trillion won.

Revenue jumped 328% to a record 104.615 trillion won, while net income jumped 216% to 39.78 trillion won, the chipmaker said in a statement.

The company, which is among the world’s largest memory chip makers and one of the biggest winners of the artificial intelligence boom, said it will pursue shareholder returns of 100 trillion won for the year.

This will comprise cash dividends of 30 trillion won or more, plus share repurchases and cancellations of 60 trillion won or more, including the 40 trillion won buyback it had announced in August and completed last week.

SK Hynix said it plans to fulfil its commitment to return 50% or more of free cash flow to shareholders, and that it will share most of the gains made on its investment in Japanese memory chip maker Kioxia Holdings (TYO:285A) back to shareholders– representing a 10,000 won special dividend for the third quarter.

It announced a third-quarter cash dividend of 14 trillion won, or 20,000 won a share– including the Kioxia payout– and a share repurchase of 20 trillion won.

The company said that it expects the memory supply shortage to persist through 2030, amid increasing, outsized demand from AI.

It plans to ramp up production capacity, of both conventional memory, for AI servers, as well as high-bandwidth memory for advanced processors.

SK Hynix said it had secured long-term agreements with 14 major customers that cover more than 50% of its total production capacity for 2027 and 2028.

SK Hynix, along with rivals Samsung Electronics and Micron, represented roughly 95% of global DRAM production as of mid-2026– a position that earned them massive, AI-fueled windfalls over the past year.

The company is a major supplier to Nvidia, and controls between 50% and 58% of global HBM supplies, according to Counterpoint Research.

SK Hynix’s American Depository Receipts— which it had listed in a bumper offering earlier this year– rose 4% in aftermarket trade. Micron added 3%, while Samsung Electronics jumped 8%.